2 held in Surat for Rs 59 crore Input Tax Credit scam

Surat: The Surat zonal unit of the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has arrested two individuals for allegedly claiming wrongful Input Tax Credit (ITC) by creating fake bills.

The accused, Kadri Mohammad Mateen Ahmed Riyazuddin, the manager of M/s Blueberry, and Anant Chaturvedi, the director of Checkers India Technology Pvt Ltd, collectively availed Rs. 58.5 crore in ITC.

DGGI investigators conducted searches from June 21 to July 13 at 11 counterfeit firms and three recipient firms.

Preliminary findings indicate that these 11 firms supplied fraudulent ITC worth Rs. 110 crore in goods, allegedly valued at Rs. 615 crore, to various recipients. Riyazuddin fraudulently obtained Rs. 27.7 crore ITC through M/s Blueberry, while Anant Chaturvedi acquired Rs. 30.8 crore ITC.

An official at DGGI stated that the arrested individuals confessed, under Section 70 of the CGST Act 2017, that they obtained the fraudulent ITC based on tax invoices issued and received from fake, non-existent, and non-operational firms, despite not receiving any corresponding goods. Chaturvedi operates a business-to-business e-commerce platform called excess2sell, which facilitates the sales and purchases of goods, he added. DeshGujarat