On Tuesday, 24th September, The Uttar Pradesh Police uncovered a gang that committed Goods and Service Tax (GST) fraud by issuing bills in the name of false organizations in Muzzafarnagar. The gang formed 48 bogus companies in five years, issued fake bills totaling Rs 925 crores, and stole GST worth Rs 135 crores.
The police have arrested seven perpetrators, including the gang’s mastermind. The accused persons have been identified as Tasleem, Junaid, Aas Mohammad, Sethi, Asif, Moin and Azim. ‘The commission for making fake bills was operated through hawala’, according to the media reports.
As per SSP Abhishek Singh, one individual identified as Ashwini of Ratanpuri police station area had lodged a complaint in the Cyber Crime Police Station on 2nd September, stating that some people had created a fake company using his Aadhar card and PAN card and that it had committed GST theft by making fake bills. A case of GST theft of Rs 248 crore was registered.
Later, the police investigated the case to expose that fake bills amounting to Rs 925 crores had been created to steal the GST amounting to Rs 135 crore. According to the media reports, arrested accused Tasleem is believed to be the mastermind of the entire scam. While the police have arrested 7 persons in the case, Tasleem’s brother Wahdat who is also accused in the case ran away.
SSP also confirmed that Tasleem is the gang’s mastermind. The police said, ‘This gang used to take the documents from unemployed youths by enticing them with jobs. Another arrestee Azim managed to create fake KYC of the youths so that a fake firm could be started in their name with a fake GST number. The gang searched for traders dealing in scrap and junk across the country who did not have GST numbers and dealt in that’.
According to the media reports, the GST was stolen by issuing fake bills through fake companies. The commission for issuing the GST bills was not put in the company’s account but was collected through Hawala. However, seven arrests in the case have been made and police are looking for one absconding.
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