A fake Input Tax Credit racket involving GST of ₹22 crores was busted by the office of Thane CGST Commissionerate of Mumbai zone.

Acting on a tip-off from the Central Intelligence Unit, Mumbai CGST Zone, a father and son duo, proprietors of two separate firms M/s Shah Enterprises and M/s U.S. Enterprises located at Kandivali West, Mumbai, were arrested.

Both the firms are registered with GST for trading in ferrous waste and scrap and were fraudulently availing themselves of ITC to the tune of ₹11.80 crores and ₹10.23 crores respectively without receiving goods or services, in violation of the provisions of CGST Act 2017. Both these firms were availing themselves of fake ITC from fake entities and passing them on to other entities of this network.

The two were arrested under Section 69 of CGST Act 2017. They were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Esplanade, Mumbai, on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The operation was part of large-scale exercise launched by the CGST, Mumbai Zone, to stamp out fake ITC network that had been causing unhealthy competition with honest taxpayers and defrauding the government exchequer of its rightful taxes. The department will intensify the drive against fraudsters and tax evaders in the days to come