BHUBANESWAR: The State GST Enforcement Wing on Thursday nabbed the third mastermind of the multi-crore fake invoicing racket.
Proprietor of Omm Shree Ganesh Traders Basant Kumar Pattnaik, the co-accused in the case related to fake invoicing of Rs 641 crore, was arrested from Bhubaneswar and produced in a court in Rourkela. He was allegedly involved in availing and passing of bogus input tax credit of Rs 115.1 crore.
During interrogation, Patnaik admitted that he was collecting identity documents such as PAN, Aadhaar and bank passbooks of innocent people like plumbers, drivers, mechanic, unemployed youth, housewives from different areas including Rourkela, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Angul, Jharkhand etc under the pretext of engaging them in different companies.
He then misutilised the documents for obtaining GST registration and opening of current bank accounts in different banks. After taking GST registration, he in collusion with others was engaged in bill trading without actual receipt and supply of goods to defraud the State exchequer.
The GST officials were in search for Patnaik for the last one and half years as he was also involved in another case investigated by Enforcement Unit, Jajpur for his alleged involvement in creation and operation of six fake firms in collusion with two other masterminds - Amit Beriwal and Subash Chandra Swain who were arrested in January last year.