In a major breakthrough, the State GST (SGST) Department has uncovered a Rs186 crore GST scam involving large-scale tax evasion in the copper business. The scam came to light following a search and seizure operation carried out by SGST officials in November across multiple cities, including Surat, Rajkot, Bharuch, Vapi, Junagadh, and Bhavnagar.
During the operation, officials targeted 14 companies, including Fortune Copper Industries and Infinity Exim, where they uncovered a network of bogus purchases and fraudulent transactions. The investigation revealed that these companies were involved in creating fake invoices for non-existent copper goods to evade taxes.
The SGST department arrested Pragnesh Kantariya, a partner at Infinity Exim, late on Tuesday. Kantariya, a resident of Rajkot, was apprehended under provisions of the GST Act and has previously been implicated in another tax evasion case by the Central GST department.
The scam is believed to have resulted in a significant loss to the state exchequer, with preliminary estimates showing that the government lost Rs34 crore due to fraudulent tax claims. Further investigations are underway as SGST officials continue to probe the operations of the involved companies.
This high-profile arrest highlights the growing concern over GST fraud in sectors like copper, where large-scale tax evasion schemes can lead to significant financial losses for the state.
