Ahmedabad: In a major breakthrough, the state GST department uncovered a Rs 186 crore GST scam, exposing large-scale tax evasion involving bogus purchases in the copper business.
SGST officials arrested Pragnesh Kantariya, a partner at M/s Infinity Exim, late on Tuesday in connection with the case.
Kantariya, a resident of Rajkot, was arrested under Section 132(1)(c) of the GST Act. He was earlier accused in a tax evasion case by the central GST department,
The case came to light when a search and seizure operation was conducted by SGST officials in Nov across Surat, Rajkot, Bharuch, Vapi, Junagadh and Bhavnagar. The operation targeted 14 companies, including Fortune Copper Industries and Infinity Exim. The scam allegedly led to a loss of Rs 34 crore to the exchequer.
As part of the operation, Sandeep Anwar, a partner of Fortune Copper Industries, was arrested in Surat for evading GST worth Rs 19.46 crore. Evidence revealed that the company fraudulently claimed input tax credits (ITC) based on fictitious copper scrap purchases, creating a false tax liability exceeding Rs 186 crore.
Further investigation in the matter is underway.