In the ongoing drive against fake billing operations, the officers of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerate, Delhi East, have unearthed a multi-layered network of fictitious firms being used by their operators to generate and pass on fake ITC.

Through the use of extensive data analytics, officers of Delhi East GST were able to identify and unravel a network of 46 fake firms which were operating since 2017 and had passed on fake ITC to multiple of beneficiaries. The investigation conducted revealed that the fictitious firms were being controlled by Shri Arvind Kumar and his associates.  He was arrested on 17.01.2021 and is in judicial custody till date. The key associate of Shri Arvind Kumar, one Shri Kamal Singh (alias “Kamal Solanki”), had been absconding for the past one month. However, through persistent efforts the officers could finally apprehend Shri Kamal Singh who has confessed to have been involved in the racket of fake billing through which fake invoices of ₹ 541.13 crore were raised involving  fake ITC of ₹ 82.23 crore, which is expected to increase as the investigation progresses.

Shri Kamal Singh was arrested under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate on 09.02.2021, who remanded him to judicial custody of 14 days till 23.02.2021. This is the second arrest made in the investigation.

It is pertinent to mention here that since the inception of GST Central Tax, Delhi Zone has made 21 arrests in various cases involving GST evasion amounting to more than ₹ 3791.65 crore.

Fake input tax credit schemes exposed: arrests made and a network of shell firms dismantled, investigations continue. A network of 46 fictitious firms operating since 2017 was identified using data analytics as generating and passing on fake input tax credit. Officers arrested key operators, who confessed to raising fake invoices through the racket; alleged fake invoicing and fake ITC have been quantified and are expected to increase as the ongoing investigation and prosecution under the CGST framework proceed.