A businessman from Delhi was taken into custody by the Noida police for his alleged involvement in a massive Rs 15,000 crore GST fraud that was exposed last year, TOI reported. Tushar Gupta, aged 39 and residing in Tilak Nagar, was arrested as the 33rd suspect in this case.
The police revealed that Gupta had exploited input tax credit (ITC) using 35 fake companies, resulting in a loss of Rs 24 crore to the exchequer over the past two years.
He was reportedly part of a syndicate that utilized counterfeit documents like Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, rental agreements, and electricity bills to establish over 3,300 shell companies. These front businesses were used to generate e-way bills necessary for transporting goods or services and claiming ITC.
DCP (crime) Shakti Avasthy stated that since the discovery of the fraud in June last year, police teams had been diligently working to dismantle the network of the culprits behind the scam.
"Our teams have been trying to find the accused who were the real beneficiaries of this nexus. A team from the Sector 20 police station arrested Gupta from Tilak Nagar and he was sent to judicial custody," the DCP told TOI.
Earlier, two businessmen from Haryana, Ajay Sharma (28) and Sanjay Jindal (38) from Sonipat, were arrested for their involvement in claiming ITC.
Sanjay, the owner of Brownie Metal and Alloys Pvt Ltd, utilized bills from 20 bogus firms to claim ITC amounting to Rs 17 crore, while Ajay, the owner of Crystal Industries, claimed ITC worth over Rs 8.5 crore using bills from 6 fake firms.
Gupta, described as being in the packaging business, was questioned by GST officials in July last year.
A police source told TOI that Gupta hailed from a family of chartered accountants and possessed a deep understanding of the system.
He has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code related to cheating and forgery, along with 32 other accused individuals. The police had told earlier that some of the shell companies linked to the fraud were engaged in transactions with firms across several countries, including Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines.
(With TOI inputs)
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