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The State GST enforcement wing on Thursday arrested one of the masterminds involved in the fake invoice racket to the tune of Rs 641 crore. The accused, Basanta Kumar Patnaik, was arrested from Bhubaneswar.
Earlier, two accused- Sujit Maitra and Gurudip Dang-had been arrested in connection with the case. While Gurudip Dang was the managing partner of M/S Tirupati Traders, Sujit Maitra was an authorised partner of M/S Satguru Metals, Rourkela.
The accused trio had allegedly generated fake invoices of Rs 641 crore against fictitious firms and availed input tax credit of Rs 115 crore, said an official statement issued by the Commissionerate of Commercial Tax and GST, Cuttack.
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The GST wing was on the lookout for Patnaik since the past one and a half year. He was also involved in a fraud case which is currently being probed by the Jajpur enforcement unit.
During questioning, the accused allegedly admitted that he lured gullible people like plumbers, drivers, unemployed youth and homemakers with promises of jobs and decent income in Angul, Rourkela, Sundergarh, Jagatsinghpur and Jharkhand. Thereafter, he collected their Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and bank passbooks.
Using the documents, he made GST registration and opened current accounts in different banks. Later, Patnaik in connivance with other accused generated fake invoices and availed input tax credit, said the statement.
As per the provisions under Sections 132 (1) (c), 132 (1) (b), 132 (1) (I) and 132 (5) of the Odisha GST Act 2017, the offence is a non-bailable offence and is punishable under Section 132 ()1(i).
The arrested accused will be produced before the judicial magistrate in Rourkela, the statement added.
