Official accused of Rs 50 crore GST fraud, denied bail

GURUGRAM: An excise and taxation department employee accused of a Rs 50-crore GST fraud has been denied bail by the district and sessions court. Gourav Behl, an assistant in the excise and taxation department, was arrested on April 12 by a special investigation team of Gurugram police. He is currently lodged in Bhondsi jail.
The main accused, Rajesh Arora, a chartered accountant, allegedly used to make fake bills in the name of ‘Uma Shankar Traders’ and ‘Vipin Enterprises’ and submit them to seek input credit of around Rs 52 crore. Input credit is a provision that allows a business to claim back the taxes paid for purchase of certain goods and services. Arora is also in judicial custody.

Behl, 32, sought bail on the ground that he had been made a scapegoat in the case. “Being a junior employee in the department, he had no role in the matter. He is in jail for a long time and is not required for further investigation,” his counsel Shyambir Singh told the court during bail plea hearing on June 6.

However, public prosecutor Anurag Hooda opposed the bail plea, saying that “four criminal cases are registered against Behl related to GST fraud”. “Behl is the main conduit and his release would hamper the investigation. During investigation, it has come to light that it was Behl who had helped the main accused by destroying the files of the two firms,” he argued.

Observing that tax fraud has caused huge loss to the exchequer and a thorough investigation is required, district and sessions judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi said, “Granting bail to accused, who is an employee of the department, will hamper the probe, especially when some more heads are yet to roll and records to be examined and recovered.”

“Keeping in view of the gravity of the offence and its repercussions on the society at large and state exchequer in particular and the sensitive stage of investigation, there is no ground to release the applicant (Behl) on bail,” the court observed in its order.

According to police, the scam was unearthed in Chandigarh when some excise and taxation officers found that Vipin Enterprises did not exist at all. However, Uma Shankar Traders is operating in Sector 29, but the owner of the company had no information about the bills.

The accused made the fake company in 2015 and had been involved in the fraud since their arrests.

Uma Shankar Traders deals in plastic items and cigarettes. Investigations revealed that the accused sought input credit of Rs 2 crore in the name of Uma Shankar Traders and Rs 49 crore in the name of Vipin Enterprises.