New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) With the arrest of three people, the CGST on Wednesday unearthed a cartel allegedly running 54 bogus firms registered in the Delhi-NCR region that were engaged in fake invoicing and circular trading, a statement said.

The Delhi South, Central Goods and Services Tax Commissionerate received a tip-off that certain bogus firms were created solely for the purpose of generating fake invoices and passing ineligible input tax credit along the chain.

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Searches and inspections were conducted across locations spread across Delhi, unearthing a cartel running 54 bogus firms registered in Delhi-NCR region that were engaged in fake invoicing and circular trading, the CGST Commissionerate, Delhi South said in a statement.

Incriminating documents such as rubber stamps and letterheads of several firms, mobile phones, laptops have been seized from the searched premises.

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A preliminary enquiry conducted so far into these transactions has revealed fake invoicing of around Rs 611 crores and tax evasion of over Rs 38.5 crore, it said.

The members of the cartel in their confessional statements have accepted their roles in managing these bogus firms, the statement said.

The people behind these bogus firms hatched the conspiracy to defraud the government and committed offences specified under section sections of the CGST Act which are cognisable and non-bailable, it said.

Three key members of the cartel, Ankit Gupta, the mastermind managing these bogus firms and two of his accomplices, Rabiendra Singh and Rajendra Singh were arrested on Wednesday. The accused were produced before the duty magistrate following which they were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, the statement added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)