In a startling revelation, it has come to light that two individuals allegedly exploited the GST registration ID and password of a scrap trader to fabricate invoices amounting to a staggering Rs 12.77 crore. The aggrieved trader, Kalpesh Ranpariya, took recourse to legal action, lodging a complaint at the A-division police station against the accused duo, Gaurav Pithadiya and Akshay Pipaliya, invoking various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
Ranpariya, who operates a unit at Kothariya Solvent, had previously engaged in business dealings with Pipaliya. However, his relocation to Mumbai for business ventures saw a hiatus in their collaboration. Upon his return to the city a year ago, with the intention to resume trading in scrap, Ranpariya approached Pithadiya, entrusted with managing his accounts, to reclaim control over his GST ID and password.
To his dismay, Pithadiya revealed that he had already entrusted these credentials to Pipaliya in March 2023, under the false pretense that Ranpariya had met with an accident. Subsequently, Pipaliya allegedly manipulated the password, citing purported tax-related necessities.
When confronted, Pipaliya denied possessing the ID and password, prompting Ranpariya to seek assistance from a chartered accountant in recovering his credentials. It was during this process that Ranpariya discovered the egregious misuse of his GST number, with fake invoices totaling Rs 12.77 crore being generated without any actual goods supplied.
These counterfeit invoices serve as a means to illicitly claim input tax credit (ITC) without remitting the corresponding tax to the government treasury, elucidating the grave ramifications of fraudulent activities in the domain of taxation.
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