Two men, Umang Darji and Ravi Soni, have been arrested for orchestrating a large-scale fraud involving fake rubber stamps and fraudulent GST input tax credits, with the total value of these illicit transactions estimated at around Rs 1,000 crore. The arrests were made by CID crime and railway officials on Sunday.
The elaborate scheme involved misusing the GST numbers of various entities to generate fake invoices for goods such as gold, silver, software, and cement, thereby facilitating tax evasion and earning substantial commissions. During a raid at Darji’s office in Ahmedabad on Friday, authorities uncovered the full extent of the operation. Darji was found to be manufacturing fake rubber stamps under the guise of accounting, which were then used to obtain bogus GST input tax credits.
The investigation revealed that Darji also misused the bank accounts of registered political parties and trusts, depositing funds as donations. These funds were subsequently transferred and withdrawn under falsified expenses, with the money being funneled back to the donors through various channels.
The raid resulted in the seizure of extensive incriminating evidence, including accounting books, receipts, chequebooks, passbooks, ATM cards, tax audit reports, letterheads, tax invoices, income tax return forms, rental agreements, mobile SIM cards, rubber stamps of various companies, two laptops, one pen drive, and Rs 80,000 in cash.
A case has been registered against Darji and Soni under various sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act. The accused were presented in court and have been remanded in police custody until May 31. The ongoing investigation, supported by the GST department, the Income Tax department, and the Election Commission, aims to uncover the full extent of the scheme and determine the involvement of political parties.
