ED conducted raids in several cities in Gujarat in a money laundering case related to GST fraud. The state police had recently arrested eight people, including a journalist. Official sources said that the ED raid was conducted on Thursday.
ED conducted raids in several cities in Gujarat in a money laundering case related to GST fraud. The state police had recently arrested eight people, including a journalist. Official sources said that the ED raid was conducted on Thursday.
After registering a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal agency raided around 23 premises in the cities of Rajkot, Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and Veraval, sources said. Raids are also being conducted on the premises belonging to ‘The Hindu’ journalist Mahesh Langa, arrested in the case.
Sources said the ED is also probing the role of several other companies in the alleged GST fraud case. The investigating agency is probing allegations of widespread conspiracy and earning income through crime in the case. This money laundering case is related to the FIR of Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch.
The Crime Branch of Ahmedabad Police has registered a case against Dhruvi Enterprise, an accused company, for making fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC) under GST by issuing bills without supplying goods between February 1 and May 1, 2023, under the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). After receiving the complaint, an FIR was registered against several individuals and organizations.
Police have arrested Langa and seven others in connection with the case. ‘The Hindu’ has quoted Mahesh Langa’s lawyer Vedant Rajguru with the claim that the journalist is neither a director nor a promoter of DA Enterprises, the company under investigation in this case. The name of DA Enterprise is also mentioned in the FIR.
In the remand application for Mahesh Langa and others, the police claimed that Langa was running DA Enterprise in the name of his wife and relatives. ‘The Hindu’ quoted the lawyer as saying that the company in question is owned by Manoj Langa, a relative of Mahesh Langa. Mahesh Langa’s wife is a partner in this, who does not have the right to make any transactions from the company’s bank accounts or access those accounts.
The lawyer said that the police case rests on Manoj Langa’s statement that he had done the transaction on the instructions of Mahesh Langa. There is no transaction or signature in the name of Mahesh. After registering the FIR, the Crime Branch and Economic Offenses Wing of Gujarat conducted raids at 14 locations across the state.
According to the Crime Branch, more than 200 fake companies across the country were causing loss to the government exchequer through fake ‘input tax credit’ in an organized manner. Fake documents and identity cards were used to create these companies.