Man arrested in Rs 10,000 cr GST fraud case after nine months on the run

A 31-year-old man evading cops for the past nine months was arrested in connection with the Rs 10,000-crore GST fraud orchestrated across the country. Babar Khan, police said, allegedly floated fake firms based on stolen or forged ID cards to fraudulently avail input tax credit.

On June 1 last year, Noida police claimed to have busted a gang suspected of orchestrating the GST fraud. The operation involved registering thousands of companies under stolen or fake identities and utilising these firms to generate e-way bills and obtain input tax credit from the govt.

With the arrest of Khan, 47 people have been picked up in connection with the scam. They include residents of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Sirsa, Jaipur, Chhindwara and so on.

On June 3 this year, cops invoked charges under the Gangster Act against 33 of the 47 arrested people. The veil was lifted off the case after the gang applied for the registration of bogus companies by fraudulently using the PAN details of a journalist and registered two firms — one in Punjab and another in Maharashtra — while a request for a third in Delhi was rejected by the GST authorities.

Shakti Avasthy, DCP (crime), said Khan was nabbed from his Loni house by a team from the Sector 20 police station team. 'He was on the run for the past nine months. Around six months ago, cops in Noida announced a Rs 25,000 bounty on his arrest. Preliminary investigation revealed he was involved in persuading poor and gullible people into sharing their Aadhaar cards. He would provide these documents to other members of the gang, who would use them to float bogus firms and avail ITC,' the DCP said.

Khan, he said, was associated with the group since 2021. However, the exact number of IDs he forged was not immediately clear. Khan was remanded in judicial custody after being produced before a local court on Thursday.

Wait continues for online gaming industry, here's what FM said at GST council meeting Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the recent GST Council Meeting, focusing on trade enhancements and taxpayer relief. The meeting did not address revising the 28% GST rate for online gaming. Several agenda items were postponed to the next meeting in mid to late-August.

(With TOI inputs)