Commerce graduate leading Rs100-crore GST fraud from shop at Faridabad mall held

Gurgaon: Central goods and services tax (CGST) officials have uncovered a massive GST fraud worth over Rs 100 crore, orchestrated through a network of fake companies operating from a single shop at a Faridabad mall.

The scam, which involved fictitious scrap trading and fraudulent claims for input tax credit, was allegedly masterminded by a commerce graduate who operated nine different shell companies.

It was the Gurgaon CGST commissionerate's data analytics team that first detected a suspicious pattern in transactions where multiple companies — all dealing in scrap — were conducting high-volume trades worth hundreds of crores from a small retail space. These companies existed only on paper — with no warehousing facilities or actual business operations.

"The high volume of transactions from a single shop in such a short time span raised several red flags. Further investigation revealed this was just the tip of the iceberg, as the accused is allegedly involved with 24 other fake firms," a senior GST official said.

Following a detailed analysis, CGST officials conducted simultaneous raids at five locations in Faridabad on Thursday. The investigation revealed that the accused had issued fake invoices amounting to Rs 101 crore, involving fraudulent GST claims of Rs 15.6 crore through various firms registered under GST Gurgaon.

The mastermind, Gaurav Jain, a Faridabad resident and commerce graduate, was arrested on Friday under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act.