Officers of the investigation wing of Punjab State GST today arrested Balwinder Singh (Alias Babu Ram) S/o Paras Ram resident of Mandi Gobindgarh, district Fatehgarh Sahib for creating and operating bogus firms across various states including Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan and availing & passing on fraudulent ITC to the tune of Rs 8.95 Crore to various firms without due payment of tax to the Government.
Disclosing this here today official spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that an authorization for arrest of Balwinder Singh s/o Paras Ram and his son Prince Dhiman were issued by Commissioner State Tax under section 69 of the GST act for violation of section 132 (1) (a), (b) & (c).
The spokesperson further said that search and seizure operations were conducted at multiple locations by the teams of the department including residence of the accused in order to gather evidence for establishing the modus operandi that involved creating firms in states outside Punjab dealing in iron scrap and finished goods and thereafter passing the same to other firms created in own name or names of other persons & family members before passing the same to various beneficiaries in the State of Punjab.
He said that the department had got alerted about the accused after a firm (Suvidha Enterprises) operated by the accused was cancelled suo-moto last year by the jurisdictional officer for being non-existent at place of business. Detailed investigation thereafter led to 4 more firms created by the accused with one each in Delhi and Rajasthan which had done a total bogus billing of more than 125 Crore and duped the Government exchequer of due tax of Rs 15 Crore (approx.).
It is pertinent to mention here that a vehicle carrying Iron scrap was also intercepted by the enforcement officers of the State GST and the investigation in respect of the same has given vital clues to a second network of about 30 firms being operated by the accused which is being probed. Total bogus billing through the firms operated by the father-son duo is expected to be more than 200 Crore.
The accused was arrested today for violation of Section 132 of the GST act by a team led by Assistant Commissioner, MW Patiala and the operation was coordinated by Deputy Commissioner State Tax, Ludhiana. The accused was presented before the court of CJM Fatehgarh Sahib and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Action against various beneficiaries is also being initiated. Efforts are on to arrest the second accused and further investigation is in progress.