Two arrested under GST Law for Claiming Fake ITC

Surat police‘s Economic Offences Wing (EFW) arrested two people who bought fictitious firms in order to illegally claim the GST Input Tax Credit (ITC). Shoban Kureshi and Umang Patel have been identified as the two accused.

Surat police received a complaint alleging that bogus stamps of an advocate were used to obtain GST registration for businesses.

During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Kureshi based in Bhavnagar bought a firm called ‘Ketan Enterprise’ with a GST number from Bhavnagar-based Imran Meman alias B D Bapu.

Meman founded another like firm, ‘Shah Enterprise,’ which he sold to Dharmesh Gandhi of Ahmedabad. Gandhi then sold that enterprise to Surat-based Patel.

Kureshi and Patel both conducted pertains worth crores in order to gain from unlawful Input Tax Credit. Kureshi received Rs 1.68 crore in ITC, while Patel received Rs 1.57 crore in ITC.

“Meman is the mastermind behind such bogus firms,” a police officer said. He would use fake documents and fraudulent stamps to establish such firms in order to obtain GST numbers. He would then sell those firms for Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 each.

GST fraudsters would conduct transactions with a revenue of less than Rs 5 crore and subsequently close firms because the GST department often investigates organisations with a turnover of more than Rs 5 crore.