The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Saturday filed prosecution complaint before a special PMLA court in Ranchi against four masterminds in the Rs 734 crore goods and services tax (GST) input tax credit (ITC) fraud case, the investigative agency said on Monday.
The four accused are Shiva Kumar Deora, Mohit Deora, Amit Kumar Gupta, and Amit Agrawal. All four were arrested under the PMLA on May 8 and are presently in jail.
The central agency started investigating the case on basis of multiple complaints filed by the directorate general of GST intelligence, Jamshedpur, which had unearthed a fraud involving generations and passing on of fake ITC.
The ED said that its investigation has revealed that Shiva and his associates had created around 135 shell companies on papers and used them to issue fake invoices valued at around Rs 5,000 crore without any actual supply of goods or services. The group generated fake ITC valued at Rs 734 crore and then sold them on commission to various firms, which used it to evade their own GST liabilities.
The ED has so far identified and attached proceeds of crime in form of immovable properties worth Rs 5.29 crore, seized cash amounting to Rs 8.98 crore, and freezed bank balances amounting to Rs 62.90 lakh.
The ED had also carried out search operations in Jharkhand and West Bengal in this connection.
Source #TOI
