ED raids at 23 locations in Gujarat in GST fraud case involving journalist and others

Gandhinagar: Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at 23 locations in Gujarat in connection with a fake Goods & Service Tax(GST) claim (GST fraud) case linked to journalist Mahesh Langa and 7 other accused who are currently in 10-day police custody(remand) of Ahmedabad Police’s Crime Branch. In this GST fraud which is said to be involving Rs. 200 crore sum, ED is raiding locations with suspicion of operations of shell companies. ED has begun a preliminary inquiry and is expected to register an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) soon.

Around 23 locations across the cities of Rajkot, Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, and Veraval were raided by approximately 1oo officers of  central agency.

An ED note revealed that the investigation indicated PAN, mobile numbers, and email IDs linked to 34 GST registration numbers were used to generate 186 additional registrations, including 50 in Gujarat. Sources mentioned that both the original and additional registrations were later canceled.

The ED note further states, “It appears that an organised web of fake and shell entities is being operated by the accused persons, involving more than 200 such firms, thus passing on the fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) to the tune of crores of rupees to ineligible firms.”