Police in Maharashtra's Thane district have registered an FIR against four individuals for allegedly creating fake GST-registered firms and fraudulently claiming input tax credit (ITC) worth over Rs 22.06 crore, officials said on Sunday.
The case was registered by the Kalyan police on Thursday following a complaint filed by an official of the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) department. The accused have been identified as Nikhil Gaikwad, proprietor of Dynamic Enterprises, Noor Mohammad Vasim Pinjari, Navnath Sukrya Gharat, and a person known as Sarfaraj, along with a few others.
According to the police, between April and August this year, the accused allegedly submitted forged and false documents to government authorities to obtain GST registration certificates under the Goods and Services Tax Act. An official from the MFC police station stated that the group created as many as eight fake companies to illegally claim ITC without any actual supply of goods or services.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the accused managed to wrongfully avail Rs 22.06 crore in input tax credit by manipulating GST records and creating bogus firms. The police have booked them under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 111 (organised crime), Section 316 (criminal breach of trust), Section 318 (cheating), and Section 320 (fraudulent removal or concealment of property), along with relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
No arrests have been made so far, and further investigation is underway to trace the financial trail and identify other possible beneficiaries involved in the GST fraud, officials added.
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