Bhadohi (UP), Dec 31 (PTI) Police on Wednesday arrested two persons and busted a racked allegedly involved in evading about Rs 17.57 crore in GST in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi by floating fake firms and showing bogus transactions worth more than Rs 96 crore across several states, officials said.

Additional Superintendent of Police Shubham Agrawal said a case was registered on July 7 at the Aurai police station on a complaint by Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Tax, Bhadohi, Manoj Kumar Agrawal, against Jogendra Kumar, proprietor of Jogendra Enterprises.

According to the complaint, the firm allegedly carried out fictitious transactions worth Rs 96.53 crore using forged documents, resulting in GST evasion of Rs 17.57 crore payable to the state government.

The ASP said Jogendra Kumar was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Aurai police and the Special Operations Group arrested Kumar (45), a resident of Shikarpur in the Bulandshahr district and Mohammad Faizan (28) of Devraniya in the Bareilly district from Madhosingh railway station while they were travelling to Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

The police recovered two laptops, seven mobile phones, two Aadhaar cards, two PAN cards, cheque books of 10 different banks and several fake invoices and receipts linked to bogus firms, the ASP said.

During interrogation, the accused allegedly revealed that Haji Irfan Malik of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi and his sons Danish and Tanveer had provided the forged documents to set up fake firms in Jharkhand and Bhadohi to exploit "loopholes" in the GST system for the past five years.

Efforts are underway to arrest the remaining members of the network, the police said. PTI COR KIS MNK MNK

GST evasion prompts arrests after fake firms and bogus transactions worth crores were uncovered across states. An organized scheme allegedly used forged documents and fake firms to show bogus transactions of about Rs 96.53 crore, producing GST evasion of Rs 17.57 crore; two suspects were arrested and electronic devices, identity documents, cheque books and fake invoices were seized. A criminal case was registered based on a commercial tax complaint and charges were framed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and interrogation linked additional document suppliers assisting the network; investigations continue to apprehend other members and trace evidence across jurisdictions.