Nagpur Crime Branch Busted a Rs. 156 Crore GST Fraud Involving Fake Firms; Five Individuals Arrested

The Nagpur crime branch has uncovered a huge GST scam worth Rs. 156 crore and has arrested five individuals in an overnight operation from Saturday night to early Sunday morning.

According to the police, a group of businessmen created 60–70 fake companies. They used these companies to carry out illegal hawala transactions and cheat the GST department by claiming false refunds, and they were also linked to online gaming.

A complaint was filed at the Lakadganj police station by Biswajeet Roy, who is from Kolkata. According to this, a case was registered against several individuals, including Bunty Shahu, Jayesh Shahu, Avinash Shahu, Rushi Lakhani, Anand Harde, Rajesh Shahu, Brijkishor Maniyar, and Anshul Mishra. Out of them, Bunty, Jayesh, Harde, Lakhani, and Maniyar have been arrested and sent to police custody until May 22.

The operation was led by Senior Inspector Kamlakar Gaddime under the guidance of DCP Rahul Maknikar and CP Ravinder Singal.

The group also tricked another person, Mithun Rajpande. Both Roy’s and Rajpande’s identities were misused. Roy said the fraudsters used his PAN and Aadhaar cards to open a company in his name without his full knowledge. They promised him a small income, initially gave him Rs. 25,000, and helped him with a place to stay.

Roy, who is a school dropout, said he met the group through a contact while looking for a job or business help in June 2024. After gaining his trust, they made him sign many documents.

Between September and December 2024, fake invoices worth Rs. 96.39 crore were created under Roy’s fake company. The group used these invoices to cheat the GST department and took out the money in cash. Similarly, in Rajpande’s name, they made fake bills worth Rs. 59.51 crore between September and November 2024.

In both cases, the fraudsters kept the money while Roy and Rajpande were unaware of the scam happening in their names.