18 bogus companies created to claim Rs 13.78 crore GST refund

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 20

The Central Goods and Services Tax Commissionerate (Ludhiana) has unearthed a racket involving fake input tax credit (ITC) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund to the tune of Rs 13.78 crore. The accused had created 18 fake firms across the country for this purpose.

On the complaint of Rohit Meena, Inspector(preventive), CGST, a case of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy has been registered against six persons, including Narinder Chugh (kingpin), a resident of Sainik Farms, Delhi; Satish Sharma (accountant); Rohit Kumar Gupta (responsible for carrying out banking operations); Ankur Garg (chartered accountant), Aman Saggar (managing banking operations) and Ram Bilas Yadav.

The CGST officials said Chugh along with his accomplices was operating 18 firms out of which 12 were located in Punjab and the remaining in Delhi and Haryana.

These firms were involved in passing/availing the ITC without actual supply of goods and monetising the same by availing the GST refunds.

The accused had also indulged in availing export benefits without meeting export requirements. They also availed input tax credit amounting to Rs 8.97 crore and its monetisation through the GST refund to the tune of Rs 4.80 crores (total Rs 13.78 crore). The District Attorney( Legal) in his opinion said the accused had caused huge monetary loss to the exchequer by issuance of fake GST bills involving fraudulent availment of the ITC.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Didar Singh (Investigation Officer) said no arrest has been made in the case so far.

Modus operandi

• Out of 18 companies, 12 were located in Punjab, and remaining in Delhi and Haryana
• Availed input tax credit amounting to Rs 8.97 crore and its monetisation through the GST refund to the tune of Rs 4.80 crores (total of Rs 13.78 crore)

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