Chandigarh, Nov 3 – The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested a man, Sammy Dhiman, who, along with others, is accused of causing a loss to the government exchequer in GST revenue through the use of fraudulent invoices and fictitious firms. Dhiman, who had been on the run for five years, was apprehended, according to a VB spokesperson’s statement on Thursday.
He allegedly orchestrated a significant financial loss of approximately Rs 25 crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue by using fraudulent invoices and fictitious firms. An FIR was registered on July 5, 2018, under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant section of the GST Act, 2017 at a police station in Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district. The case’s investigation was later entrusted to the Vigilance Bureau Flying Squad-1, Mohali.
Dhiman, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh, and his accomplices allegedly systematically perpetrated the GST fraud by fabricating invoices on behalf of non-existent businesses. These fictitious invoices were then sold to firms operating in Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana, causing a substantial financial loss of approximately Rs 25 crore to the state exchequer.
Dhiman was arrested by a team led by Inspector Sukhjinder Singh of the Vigilance Bureau Flying Squad-1, Mohali. He was produced before a court on Thursday and remanded in police custody for two days. The VB will continue its efforts to arrest the remaining accused in the case, the spokesperson said.
