The Kolkata unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has arrested the director of the TIF (Castings) Limited in which the department unearthed a fake Input Tax Claim (ITC) scam of Rs. 229 crores as informed by the trusted sources.
Based on specific intelligence gathered and further investigated by the officers of DGGI, Kolkata Zonal Unit, it was suspected that M/s TIF (Castings) Limited engaged in fraudulent activities by falsely recording procurements without actually receiving any goods.
Consequently, the authorities conducted searches at the primary business premises in Kolkata and three officially declared additional locations, which consisted of a factory in Belgachia, Howrah, and two purported godowns, one situated at G.T Road in Raniganj and the other at Serakole on Diamond Harbour Road.
The searches allegedly exposed that there was no godown present at G.T Road, Raniganj, and instead, the said premises were occupied by M/s Ultratech Cement Ltd, M/s Shree Jee Logistics, and M/s Apsara Enterprise.
According to the Security in-charge stated that the godown has been vacant for the past three years. Additionally, the records indicated that M/s TIF (Castings) Limited never paid any rent to the landlord for the premises. The local Post Office also verified that there was no company or godown registered under the name of M/s TIF (Castings) Limited at that location.
It was also reported that from analysis of e-way bills vis-à-vis the lorry numbers shown therein, it transpired that no movements of vehicles took place and no goods were received at such premises.
Allegedly, the total ITC availed by M/s TIF (Castings) Limited for the period 01.04.2021 to 21.06.2023 on such claimed procurements, which actually never took place, is to the tune of Rs. 113.19 Crore and the bogus sale shown by M/s TIF (Castings) Limited from such premises helped in passing of bogus ITC to others to the tune of Rs. 115.11 Crore.
Searches also turned up a scarcity of items at their factory in Belgachia, Howrah, which were presumed to have been removed without paying the applicable GST. A total of Rs. 0.05 crore in GST was evaded.
All above facts were admitted in a statement by the Director of the company, Santanu Poddar.
According to the information, the employees working at the office and factory, including the Accountant and Factory Manager, were unaware of the non-existence of the claimed godowns at G.T Road, Raniganj, and Serakole, Diamond Harbour Road.
Further informed that the employees simply followed the instructions provided by the Director, Shri Santanu Poddar. The Director has also admitted that all company actions were under his control, and all the fraudulent transactions were executed based on his instructions.
Hence, it was revealed that Shri Santanu Poddar, the Director of M/s TIF (Castings) Limited, has violated the provisions of Section 132(1)(b) and Section 132(1)(c) of the Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, in conjunction with the corresponding provisions of the WBGST Act, 2017. Consequently, he is subject to punishment under Section 132(1)(i) read with Section 132(5) of the CGST Act, 2017.
Santanu Poddar, as the most active Director of the company, has admitted to controlling all such illegal activities, resulting in a GST fraud/involvement of approximately Rs. 228.97 Crore (consisting of bogus ITC claimed amounting to Rs. 113.53 Crore and bogus ITC passed on amounting to Rs. 115.44 Crore), along with GST involvement of Rs. 5.46 Lakh for clandestine removal from their Howrah factory.
The Director of M/s TIF (Castings) Limited was arrested under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 on 24.06.2023 and produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Sealdah. The director has been remanded to Judicial Custody till 07.07.2023.
The ACJM rejected the bail and again remanded to Judicial Custody till 21-07-2023 for interrogation. The investigation is in progress.
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