Seema Kumari, a domestic help from Bihar working in Ludhiana, was shocked to discover that she had been heading a company with a ₹10-crore turnover for two months. She learnt of her “business” from the Punjab GST authorities who contacted her over phone after detecting massive transactions and tax evasion by her company. Far from setting up a company, Seema told the GST officials that she was being paid ₹10,000 a month to sign “some documents” and providing her Aadhar card for “job verification”.
Her phone has been switched off ever since the call was made on October 1 and she has gone underground.
Sharing details of the case, goods and services tax (GST) additional commissioner Jiwanjot Kaur said on Tuesday that data analysis led her team to intercept and impound a truck (PB 22 J 9058) that was transporting three tonnes of copper scrap on October 1, 2023. State tax officer Amit Goyal imposed a penalty of ₹11.66 lakh that was subsequently recovered by the Ropar GST officials.
A fortnight on, the GST authorities have found that this case is just the tip of the iceberg for it led to the unearthing of a network of fraudulent firms. One of the firms, M/s Kuma Traders in Ludhiana, obtained GST registration on June 28, 2023, on the pretext of trading salt, pepper and tea. However, the firm had been issuing counterfeit invoices for copper scrap.
“The firm has created fake invoices of copper scrap. It uploaded forged documents while applying for GST registration, including the rent deed on manual stamp paper that the Punjab government has abolished since July 7, 2022. The fake rent deed was prepared on June 5, 2023. When we contacted Seema Kumari, the ‘proprietor’ of Kuma Traders, Ludhiana, she said she’s a migrant labourer unaware of any firm in her name. However, this firm fraudulently made bogus billing to the tune of ₹10 crore in just two months,” Jiwanjot Kaur said.
She said the GST investigation wing is now tracking every transaction of the firm to impose penalty for tax evasion.
The state intelligence and preventive unit (SIPU) is conducting data mining and has found two more cases in which bogus billing was done.
₹32-crore penalty on tax evaders in two months
Since taking charge of the state intelligence and preventive unit (SIPU) in August, Jiwanjot Kaur said she has imposed a total penalty of ₹32 crore on tax evaders.
“In August, SIPU cracked several cases of tax evasion and imposed a penalty of ₹15.85 crore, while in September a fine of ₹16.24 crore was collected. Not only copper scrap, tax evasion has also been detected in the trade of tobacco products, particularly cigarettes,” she said.
The SIPU is scanning data from the GST portal to identify tax evaders besides putting special checkpoints and conducting raids to catch tax evaders.
