Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated Odisha Goods and Service Tax (GST) Enforcement unit for busting a racket involved in alleged GST input tax credit (ITC) fraud to the tune of Rs 311.03 crore.
The racket involving bogus bills and bogus ITC of 24 fake firms was busted on the basis of information secured during raids conducted earlier and analysis of data.
Congratulations @Banijyakar for unearthing the biggest GST fraud till date in Rourkela. #Odisha GST Commissionerate detected 23 fake firms set up in the name of innocent people to avail bogus Input Tax Credit (ITC) worth ₹311.03 Cr using fake invoices.
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) July 7, 2022
The operation involved 48 tax officials spread in 12 teams and 35 police personnel which led to the arrest of the five masterminds.
The accused masterminds have been identified as Dhanwan Shaw, Ram Bharose Shaw, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Subash Kandulna and his associate Niku Singh alias Chhatar Singh.
GST Commissioner Sushil Kumar Lohani said that the accused were arrested on allegations of misappropriating and transferring bogus ITC to the tune of Rs 311.03 crore on the basis of bogus bills (invoices) of Rs 1717.91 crore.
They were arrested under section 132 (1)(b)(c) and 132(5) which is a cognisable and non-bailable offence, he added.
