Noida, Mar 4 (PTI) An accused wanted by the Noida Police in connection with its probe into the multi-billion Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud case surrendered himself in a local court on Monday, officials said.
Known as the “GST Scam”, the case came to light in June 2023 and pertains to revenue loss to the exchequer through input tax credit being claimed by thousands of bogus companies floated using forged documents.
Police investigations have showed involvement of 3,077 bogus firms and transactions of around Rs 10,000 crore from them, and so far over two dozen people have been arrested in the case, according to officials involved in the probe.
“Accused Kunal Mehta alias Goldy is a resident of Haryana’s Hisar. Mehta, who was wanted by the Noida Sector 20 police station in connection with the GST Scam probe and carried a reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest, surrendered before local court in Surajpur on Monday,” a police spokesperson said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shakti Mohan Avasthy told PTI that Mehta is among the key members of the gang behind the scam.
“He was involved in purchasing bogus companies and forging documents which were eventually used by the gang to fraudulently claim input tax credit and thereby causing loss to the exchequer,” Avasthy said.
The police said an FIR in connection with the case was lodged at the Sector 20 police station of Noida under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468, 471 (all related to forgery) and 120B (party to criminal conspiracy).
Last month, the Noida police attached assets approximately worth around Rs 12 crore of gang members involved in the GST scam and it includes their immovable properties at multiple locations in Delhi.
The case had come to light in 2023 after thugs had applied for registration of bogus companies by fraudulently using PAN details of a journalist and got two firms registered one in Punjab and one in Maharashtra, while request for a third in Delhi was rejected by the GST authorities. PTI KIS NB NB
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