Ranchi, July 7 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) named four accused in its prosecution complaint (PC) filed in a Special Court in Jharkhand in a Rs 734 crore GST Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud involving 135 shell companies, an official said on Monday.

The prosecution complaint filed by ED, Ranchi Zonal Office, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on Saturday before the Special Court (PMLA), Ranchi, named the four masterminds of a massive GST Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud syndicate as — Shiva Kumar Deora, Mohit Deora, Amit Kumar Gupta, and Amit Agarwal alias Vicky Bhalotia.

The investigation has so far resulted in the identification and attachment of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties valued at Rs 5.29 crore, cash seizure of Rs 8.98 lakh, and freezing of bank balances of Rs 62.90 lakh.

The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of multiple complaints filed by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Jamshedpur, which had unearthed a sophisticated fraud involving the generation and passing on of fake ITC.

The ED investigation revealed that the syndicate, spearheaded by Shiva Kumar Deora and his associates, had created a web of 135 shell companies which existed only on paper.

The ED complaint said that the 135 shell companies were used to issue bogus invoices worth over Rs 5,000 crore without any actual supply of goods or services.

Through this modus operandi, the syndicate fraudulently generated and passed on fake ITC to the tune of over Rs 734 crore. This illicitly generated credit was then sold at a commission to various beneficiary firms, which used it to evade their own GST liabilities.

Earlier in this case, the ED conducted extensive search operations at multiple premises in Jharkhand and West Bengal. Further, the four accused persons were also arrested under the PMLA on May 8 and are presently in judicial custody, said a statement.

–IANS

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