The investigation wing of the state GST department is cracking down on the bogus billing masterminds and arresting them. Generally, bogus billing is done by the mastermind (operator) by giving financial incentives to the needy and financially weak people by obtaining PAN card, Aadhar card, photos, light bill and other alike documents.
The state GST department has recently conducted investigations at a total of 30 locations of traders involved in the trade of iron scrap for alleged tax evasion and presenting manipulated tax receipts. These locations include 10 in Bhavnagar, 12 in Rajkot, seven in Surat and one in Ahmedabad.
An in-depth investigation is currently underway into whether bogus billing has taken place in the accounts, digital data and purchase and sale transactions by verifying it at all the locations. A total of 12 firms were found to be involved in bogus billing activities during the probe and accounts have been seized for further investigation in 4 cases. Investigations into the involvement and connections of other people in these cases are also underway.
So far the investigation has found a total of Rs 4 crore bogus billing transactions in which Rs 56 crore of tax deductions have been passed on. The following is a list of merchants involved in bogus billing activities during the investigation:
- One Ten Steel (Surat)
- Gold Soda Machine (Bhavnagar)
- AH Impex (Ahmedabad)
- Marine Line (Bhavnagar)
- JP Enterprise (Rajkot)
- Bhavya Enterprise (Rajkot)
- Aliya Scrap (Bhavnagar)
- Abdul Traders (Surat)
- Suraj Enterprise (Rajkot)
- First Trading (Surat)
- Sahyog Steel (Rajkot)
- MD Enterprise (Rajkot)
- Gautam Enterprise (Morbi)
- JV Enterprise (Rajkot)
- Vishal Traders (Surat)
- RN Enterprise (Surat)
- Jagdish Steel (Rajkot)
