Ahmedabad: Three persons were arrested in two separate fake billing cases for availing input tax credit (ITC) amounting to over Rs 262 crore fraudulently, officials said.In the first case, DGGI unearthed a large fake invoicing racket involving fraudulent ITC of around Rs 252.6 crore at a taxable value of Rs 1,403.66 crore.Over the past two months, coordinated searches were conducted at multiple premises in Ahmedabad, Jamnagar and Mumbai, leading to the recovery of incriminating documents, digital records and mobile devices.Investigations revealed that several non-existent and non-operational private limited companies were floated using dummy directors, showing bogus turnovers running into hundreds of crores within months.“It was found that these firms issued fake invoices without any actual supply of goods or services, which were used across sectors such as iron and steel, chemicals, cement, agriculture and construction to inflate turnovers and evade GST,” according to DGGI officials.Sources told TOI that the syndicate allegedly routed invoice amounts through RTGS to lend legitimacy to transactions, after which the money, minus commission, was returned in cash through hawala channels.Forensic examination of seized digital devices is underway to identify beneficiaries of the fake bills.These bogus invoices were further used in various sectors such as iron and steel, chemicals, cement, agriculture and construction, among others. The bogus invoices were used by the recipient firms to inflate their turnovers and to defraud the govt exchequer by offsetting the due GST liability by utilising this fake ITC.DGGI also found that 17 GST-registered firms were controlled by Ahmedabad resident Rizwan Khoja, who allegedly masterminded the operation using associates, staff, relatives and unsuspecting individuals. To have centralised control over the scam, he provided mobile phones to all of these persons and replaced them at regular intervals to escape scrutiny.Another accused, Lalit Jain, acted as a broker, facilitating the sale of fake invoices to industry players for commission. Both were arrested on Jan 22, under Section 69 of the CGST Act and remanded to 5 days’ custody.So far, six persons were arrested in this case.In a separate case, the key controller of M/s Rajanji Entreprise, Memon Mohamadafwan, was arrested on Jan 20, for allegedly availing fake ITC worth Rs 9.29 crore through bogus bills of around Rs 52 crore issued by 27 fictitious entities. He was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody.This case is a follow-up to an earlier Rs 800-crore fake billing scam involving Rs 162 crore of fake ITC, in which Ahmedabad resident Ritesh Shah was arrested by DGGI in Dec 2024. Shah was later taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai, and remains in judicial custody.DGGI officials said further scrutiny of recipients of fake bills is underway, and strict legal action will be initiated against violators.
