4 More Arrested as Probe in GST Fraud Case Intensifies

The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in Ahmedabad arrested four more people on Sunday, as the investigation into the GST fraud case goes deepens. The alleged racket involved over 220 shell companies that falsely passed and availed fake Input Tax Credits (ITC), leading the government to lose crores of rupees. A total of eight persons have been arrested thus far.

Crime Branch DCP Ajit Rajian on Sunday said that four more accused, the owners of these benami companies, had been arrested and that further arrests would follow.

Those arrested include Faizal Munaf Shaikh (32), a Bhavnagar resident and associate of Dhruvi Enterprise; Irfan alias Padu Sattar Jethwa (42), a Bhavnagar resident and owner of Dhruvi Enterprise; Jignesh Himmatlal Desai (50), a Bhavnagar resident and operator of Dhruvi Enterprise’s bank account; and Paresh Pradeep Dodiya (25), a Rajkot resident and owner of Prakash Industries.

The four suspects will be produced in court on Monday, according to investigating officer IN Ghasura.

In the FIR filed at the DCB police station in Ahmedabad on October 7, 13 firms and their proprietors were named as accused, with the other shell companies allegedly obtaining fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) that had been illegally passed on to them via bogus billing by Dhruvi Enterprise, the main accused.

The suspected racket was first discovered by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The Hindu journalist Mahesh Langa, Aijaz alias Maldar s/o Iqbal Habib Maldar (30), Abdulkader alias Bapu s/o Samad Jainmiya Kadri (33) and Jyotish Magan Gondaliya (42) were arrested on October 8, and the following day, on October 9, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate granted all four accused a 10-day remand to the Crime Branch.