Chandigarh, Jan 30 (PTI) The GST wing of the Taxation Department of Punjab on Monday arrested four persons for alleged GST fraud of Rs 48 crore in a major operation against tax evaders.

The suspects allegedly were running fake firms related to the iron scrap and had obtained GST registrations only to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraudulently by issuing only invoices without the supply of actual goods, said an official statement here.

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The arrested persons are the residents of Jalandhar, the statement said quoting an official spokesperson of the Taxation department.

“All these firms were involved in a nexus of fake non-functioning firms, which availed, utilized and passed the fraudulent ITC to actual beneficiaries," he said.

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The accused persons were only showing circular trading of iron and plastic scrap and in lieu of that they were issuing fake invoices and generating fake e-way bills on scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans, tractors and on fake vehicles having no records, he said.

"By creating bogus ITC, these persons were passing on the same bogus ITC to the other than end taxpayers who adjusted their tax payment liabilities with this bogus ITC rather than paying the same from their own and thus defrauding the state exchequer," he said.

In a tweet, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that he wants to reiterate that the Bhagwant Mann led government is not going to spare anyone indulging in such practices.

(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)