1 mobile no. used for generating 50 e-way bills alarmed officials

LUCKNOW: As many as 50 e-way bills were generated using one mobile number in recent months that alarmed the commercial tax officials in Lucknow and led to a person’s arrest in the first GST fraud case busted in the state.

Investigators have identified 142 bogus firms across the country that were allegedly set up by a group of people to evade goods and services tax to the tune of over ₹150 crore.

UP commercial tax department has lodged an FIR in the matter at the Vibhuti Khand police station here on Monday night. Over 50 of these firms were registered with addresses in 17 UP districts.

According to sources in the commercial tax department, the said fraudulent mobile number popped up during a regular assessment exercise done using special computer software.

“The results showed that the same mobile number has been used to book e-way bills for different firms located at different places in the country,” said a senior officer in the department. The finding raised eyebrows. “It is very unusual for a single number to register e-way bills for so many firms,” he added.

A mobile number and an email id along with other documents is a must to obtain an e-way bill. The bill was made mandatory for transporting goods for business purposes after the GST roll-out.

The aberration, when probed by the officials of Special Task Force (STF) of the department, unraveled the nexus of tax evaders.

Officials found general store, meat shop and barber shop at the addresses that were registered as trading firms.

Officials also found that the vehicles that were registered as trucks came out to be of motorcycles, auto-rickshaws and other smaller vehicles. Steel and other iron based products were transported by these firms.

The month long investigation, along with help of other states’ counterparts, led to the identification of these bogus firms. The racket was being operated by a bunch of closely linked people.

“We came to know that the person operating the initial number was also in touch with few others who used their phones to generate several e-way bills,” said the officer. Officials have shared this numbers with the police to identify and track its users.

Seven firms are registered with addresses in Varanasi. While police had begun the probe, commercial tax officials were examining others firms that did business with these bogus firms, said Chandra Bhan Singh, additional commissioner (STF) of commercial tax department.