SGST Busts Rs. 115 Crore GST Evasion Racket in Gujarat Involving Pharmaceutical Group; Two Held

The State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) department has recently unearthed a major GST evasion worth Rs. 115 crore concerning the Pharmaceutical Group, running 11 associated entities in Gujarat. The investigation pointed out taxable transactions amounting to Rs. 114.89 crore and bogus ITC (Input Tax Credit) amounting to Rs. 20.68 crore.

As of now, the department has arrested two individuals in relation to this case and produced them before the additional chief judicial magistrate, Ahmedabad, who has sent them for judicial custody of 14 days (till February 03).

This litigation has been taken after deep search operations carried out at 14 locations, including 32 premises, most in and around Ahmedabad. As per the SGST department, numerous entities were noted to be functioning from a common premise in Makarba; on the other hand, several disclosed their premises of business as either non-functional or existing only on paper.

Investigation uncovered that several entities had changed their GST registrations to include steel/ingot trading in order to ease fraudulent billing. Further investigation exposed the use of fake invoices and e-way bills to claim bogus ITC, without actual movement of goods.

The department has stated that, concerning the matter, further investigation is ongoing, including scrutiny of confiscated documents, digital evidence, financial trails, and possible interstate linkages.