Rs. 1,814 Crore GST Scam: Surat Crime Branch Arrests Main Accused

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Surat Crime Branch has finally arrested the primary accused of a massive Rs.1,814 crore GST scam. The long-absconding accused was arrested from the Mira Road locality in Mumbai. After his arrest, the police were allowed by the court to detain him for three days of further interrogation.

During the investigation, it came to light that the accused, along with two others, had cheated the government by opening 145 fictitious companies in Gujarat. The bogus companies were formed just to conduct fraud and not to conduct any business. The bogus companies generated bogus bills for such items as cement, iron, chemicals, plastic, wood, and MS scrap. These counterfeit bills were also sold to Gujarat and Maharashtra traders who utilized them for fictitious tax credits, resulting in huge losses to the government.

The officials also discovered that these firms were allotted GST numbers by producing false rental agreements and false documents. The firms were not conducting any real trade but were merely being utilized to demonstrate false purchases and sales in order to evade paying GST. With these false transactions, the scamsters were able to avoid paying taxes amounting to thousands of crores.

Earlier, the police had detained another individual involved in this case, who is already in prison. While he was being questioned, it came to light that the prime accused and another individual from Mumbai were also part of the scam. Now, with the latest arrest, the police will question the accused to know more about other people who may be involved in this scam and the extent of the whole network.

The authorities confirmed that the Central GST department had registered a case in 2024 when it was found that the government was defrauded by fake bills worth Rs.1,814 crore. With this latest arrest, the investigation will now move forward to identify more people involved and recover the lost money.