Gujarat private firm chairman arrested in ₹762 crore GST fraud

AHMEDABAD: The chairman of a Bhavnagar-based firm was arrested on Wednesday by the state Goods and Services Tax (GST) department with the help of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in a case of using fake invoices of ₹762 crore to claim fraudulent input tax credit of ₹137 crore.

The state GST department took the help of the Anti-Terrorist Squad to arrest the chairman of Bhavnagar-based Madhav Copper Ltd, Nilesh Patel, who had managed to escape after hitting a vehicle of GST officials when they tried to arrest him on an earlier occasion, the department said in a statement release on Thursday.

He was accused of causing loss to the state treasury by issuing ₹762 crore of fake invoices to receive ₹137 crore in fraudulent input tax credit, the release said.

The state GST department had unearthed the fraud in July last year and arrested several persons in this regard, while Patel was absconding, it said.

His properties were seized and a court had issued summons against him which he did not respond to, the statement said.

The businessman had escaped during an earlier effort to arrest him on February 20, 2022, the GST department said.

The department then approached the Anti-Terrorist Squad, which arrested him from Ahmedabad.

In raids conducted last year in the company’s premises, offices and residences of its directors, the state GST had seized several incriminating documents, including digital data.

The Supreme Court had on February 11, 2022, dismissed Nilesh Patel’s anticipatory bail petition and granted him one week protection from the arrest.

A sessions court had also dismissed his plea for regular bail.

When the state GST officials tried to arrested him earlier, he escaped after hitting their vehicle and injuring an official in the process. Thereafter, an FIR was lodged against him for causing obstruction in work of government officials, the statement issued by the GST department said.