Police Bust Fake GST Racket; Rs. 7.03 Crore ITC Fraud Uncovered

Kanpur Police arrested seven people for allegedly stealing about Rs. 7 crore in tax by creating fake companies and invoices. They recovered a laptop, fake GST invoices, e-bills, and a car without a number plate from the accused.

Those arrested include a chartered accountant, the son of a former corporator, and two trader cousins. Earlier, police had also arrested a cafe operator in the same case and sent him to jail.

SSP Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said seven police cases were filed by a GST officer at different police stations. When the police investigated, they found that some people cheated the government by creating fake GST bills without actually buying or selling any goods. Using these fake bills, they wrongly claimed Input Tax Credit (ITC), which caused the government a loss of about Rs. 7.03 crore.

During the investigation, police found that the same group used two firms ML Builders and Bharat Building Material, in the Friends Colony police station area to issue fake invoices without actually supplying any goods. Using these fake bills, they passed on input tax credit (ITC), creating fake business turnover worth crores of rupees and claiming illegal ITC, police said.

A similar case was reported in the Jaswant Nagar police station area, in which some people created fake GST registrations using the documents of innocent people. They then issued fake tax bills and passed on false input tax credit (ITC). This caused a big loss to government revenue, and the case was found in the Jaswant Nagar police station area.

The initial investigation found that same organised gang was involved in GST theft. They did this by creating fake firms, issuing fake bills, and illegally passing on input tax credit. The gang was active in the areas of Kotwali, Friends Colony, and Jaswant Nagar police stations. On the SSP’s instructions, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to catch the accused.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) gathered evidence by checking many digital records. These included mobile phone call details (IPDR), Netgrid, CCTV footage, Aadhaar and PAN records, rent agreements, bank transactions, electronic data, GST portal login details, and other online information. The SIT also took information from several chartered accountants to support the investigation.

Police have arrested several people in connection with the case. They include Nitin Gupta, son of a former corporator of Maksudpura and a resident of Dabgran; Tarun Agarwal from Katra Sewakali; Ankit Jauhari and his cousin Shiva Jauhari, who live in a colony opposite Tiksi temple; Abhishek Kumar Shakya and Devesh Chandra Shakya from Katra Shamsher Khan; and Asif from Barhi Tola.

Earlier, the police had also arrested Zeeshan, a resident of Mohalla Shahkamar, and sent him to jail.