The Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax (MGST) department has arrested Salman Jamal Shah, operator of a Kurla-based bogus company, for masterminding a fraudulent tax scheme that caused a loss of nearly Rs 19 crore to the government.
Shah allegedly exploited Aadhaar and PAN cards — originally obtained for loans — to create M/s Rynasty Trading Private Limited, a fake company engaged on paper in trading aluminium scrap. Registered in November 2021, the company showed fictitious transactions worth Rs 79 crore involving seven non-genuine taxpayer suppliers (NGTPs) and claimed illicit input tax credits (ITC) of Rs 18.96 crore through fabricated invoices.
An MGST investigator said, “No goods ever changed hands — only documents did. This is a textbook case of bill trading without business.” The department acted on intelligence about the fraudulent ITC claims and contacted the company’s nominal directors, Alauddin Gulam Rabbani Ansari and Sultan Ali Mehboob Sayyed, who denied operating the firm and suspected misuse of their documents by Zuber Payak.
During interrogation, Payak admitted collecting their PAN and Aadhaar cards for loans and passing them to Shah, who used these to run the sham company. Investigation found no genuine business transactions, confirming the fraudulent nature of the operations.
Under the GST Act, issuing fake invoices and claiming ITC without actual supply of goods or services is a cognisable, non-bailable offence. Following these findings, Shah was arrested and is now under investigation.
