Officersof the investigation wing of Punjab State GST today arrested Balwinder Singh(Alias Babu Ram) S/o Paras Ram resident of Mandi Gobindgarh, district FatehgarhSahib for creating and operating bogus firms across various states includingPunjab, Delhi and Rajasthan and availing & passing on fraudulent ITC to thetune of Rs 8.95 Crore to various firms without due payment of tax to theGovernment.
Disclosingthis here today official spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that anauthorization for arrest of Balwinder Singh s/o Paras Ram and his son PrinceDhiman were issued by Commissioner State Tax under section 69 of the GST actfor violation of section 132 (1) (a), (b) & (c).
Thespokesperson further said that search and seizure operations were conducted atmultiple locations by the teams of the department including residence of theaccused in order to gather evidence for establishing the modus operandi thatinvolved creating firms in states outside Punjab dealing in iron scrap andfinished goods and thereafter passing the same to other firms created in ownname or names of other persons & family members before passing the same tovarious beneficiaries in the State of Punjab.
Hesaid that the department had got alerted about the accused after a firm(Suvidha Enterprises) operated by the accused was cancelled suo-moto last yearby the jurisdictional officer for being non-existent at place of business.Detailed investigation thereafter led to 4 more firms created by the accusedwith one each in Delhi and Rajasthan which had done a total bogus billing ofmore than 125 Crore and duped the Government exchequer of due tax of Rs 15Crore (approx.).
Itis pertinent to mention here that a vehicle carrying Iron scrap was alsointercepted by the enforcement officers of the State GST and the investigationin respect of the same has given vital clues to a second network of about 30firms being operated by the accused which is being probed. Total bogus billingthrough the firms operated by the father-son duo is expected to be more than200 Crore.
Theaccused was arrested today for violation of Section 132 of the GST act by ateam led by Assistant Commissioner, MW Patiala and the operation wascoordinated by Deputy Commissioner State Tax, Ludhiana. The accused waspresented before the court of CJM Fatehgarh Sahib and remanded to judicialcustody for 14 days. Action against various beneficiaries is also beinginitiated. Efforts are on to arrest the second accused and furtherinvestigation is in progress.