Shahjahanpur. When the noose tightened around five traders from Mumbai and Hyderabad—who had misappropriated Input Tax Credit (ITC) worth ₹10.78 crore by creating bogus firms—they returned the entire sum to the government in an attempt to evade arrest. However, they will receive no reprieve despite this action. Teams will soon be dispatched to the respective locations to effect their arrests. This marks the first instance in the district where such a substantial amount involved in GST evasion has been returned to the government.
In the year 2025, Mumbai-based firms—Siddhi Vinayak, Raj Traders, Guru Traders, and Sarv Solutions—claimed to have conducted trade involving spare parts worth ₹45.40 crore with various other firms. By submitting invoices for these transactions, they had fraudulently availed themselves of ITC benefits amounting to ₹10.78 crore.
Upon investigation, it was revealed that the firms from which these entities procured and sold goods were all bogus; although they were registered with the department, no firm or company operating under those names could be found at the addresses provided. Without conducting any actual business, the operators of the four firms had submitted fraudulent invoices from these bogus entities in order to fraudulently claim Input Tax Credit (ITC).
During the investigation led by Virendra Singh, the officer-in-charge of the Anti-Gangster Cell, the names of several individuals emerged as the operators of the firm in question: Mumbai residents Anmol Sethi, Charanjit Gujral, Vimal Pamil Shah, and Satypal Singh, along with Rakesh Garg from Hyderabad. When the Mumbai Police were contacted regarding the arrest of these individuals, the accused promptly filed petitions for anticipatory bail in the Maharashtra High Court.
However, they were unable to secure any relief. As the police tightened their grip, the accused returned the entire amount—which had been misappropriated in the form of Input Tax Credit (ITC)—to the State Tax Department. Virendra Singh confirmed that a report regarding the deposit of these funds through the Mumbai Police has been received.
He further stated that discussions are currently underway with officials from the State Tax Department regarding this matter. Since the accused have not been granted a stay order, teams will be dispatched to effect their arrests as soon as the necessary authorization is received from the office of the DIG, Bareilly.
The Full Story
In May 2025, a bogus firm operating under the name “Singh Enterprises” was uncovered in the Lok Vihar Colony of Roza. An investigation into this firm—which had been established in the name of Mandeep Singh, a student residing in Etawah—revealed the existence of a large number of other firms and exposed a scheme involving the theft of Input Tax Credit (ITC) facilitated through them.
On December 5, 2025, the Roza police arrested the ringleaders of the syndicate involved in this case: Gaurav Yadav (a resident of Delhi), Deepak, and Siddharth Pandey. The trio would post job advertisements on social media platforms to procure the personal documents of unemployed individuals, which they would then use to create these bogus firms.
During their interrogation, the names of Sanjeev Gupta—a Yes Bank branch manager residing in Ghaziabad—and Varun Sharma, a resident of Amethi, came to light. These individuals would sell the bogus firms to Sanjeev, who, in turn, would resell them to parties residing in Mumbai—including Charanjeet, Anmol, and others—thereby reaping financial gains. Sanjeev and Varun were subsequently arrested in January.
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