'Cartel issuing fake GST invoices busted'

The Karnataka commercial taxes department claimed Wednesday it has busted a cartel issuing fake GST invoices worth Rs 203 crore,with the arrest of three persons,whereby purchasers illegally claimed input tax credit.

"The cartel was involved in issuing fake GST invoices worth Rs 203 crore. This investigation follows close on the heels of the first arrest made in Karnataka under GST by the Commercial Taxes Department on September 5, 2018," Nitish Patil, additional commissioner (enforcement), commercial tax department told PTI.

The commissioner of commercial tax department M S Srikar said in a press release that Vikram Jeet Duggal, proprietor of Rajiv Enterprises, along with Ashfaq Ahmed and Niyaz Ahmed had obtained 14 GST registrations in the name of their relatives and other people.

He had been issuing fake GST invoices without supply of goods and services.

They had set up an office in one of their residences, where fake invoices and e-way bills were generated, he said in a release.

Based on intelligence inputs, a team led by Patil raided the place and found documents pertaining to 14 firms in a room. Two laptops, a mobile phone, diaries and documents were seized from there, he said.

Duggal and his two accomplices were arrested and would be produced before the court, Srikar said.

He said many such gangs of bogus dealers had been identified in the last one month and more than 50 business premises in Bengaluru had been raided and inspected.