Ahmedabad: The state goods and services tax (SGST) department has unearthed a fake invoicing racket involving transactions worth Rs 128 crore and arrested a father-son duo from Jamnagar for allegedly fraudulently availing of Rs 23 crore as input tax credit (ITC).Officials said coordinated search and seizure operations were conducted on June 16 across 22 firms in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Surat, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Bhavnagar after specific intelligence inputs and data analysis.The department arrested Sureshchandra Moolchand Shah, proprietor of Mandovara Trading Co, and his son Ayush Shah, for their alleged role in the tax evasion case.According to the SGST officials, the firm claimed fraudulent ITC by recording bogus purchases of brass and copper scrap through non-genuine transactions. Preliminary findings showed that fabricated transactions exceeding Rs 128 crore were routed through bogus firms without any physical movement of goods, resulting in wrongful ITC claims and alleged tax evasion of over Rs 23.08 crore.The department said more instances of tax evasion and additional GST liabilities may emerge during the course of the investigation. Authorities have initiated legal proceedings to recover govt revenue and identify other entities linked to the racket.SGST officials also cautioned taxpayers against sharing Aadhaar, PAN, GST registration details, bank account information and other sensitive documents with unauthorised persons, warning that misuse of such information could lead to identity theft and fraud.
