ED conducts raids at six Ranchi locations in Rs.800 crore GST fraud investigation

Ranchi — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday intensified its probe into the ?800 crore GST fraud case by conducting raids at six different locations in Ranchi.

The operation focused on individuals associated with Kolkata-based businessman Shiv Kumar Deora, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the scam.

Among the key places raided was the residence-cum-office of businessman Krishna Thakkar, located on the fourth floor of Krishna Apartment in Ranchi's P.P. Compound. Simultaneous raids took place across five other sites in the city.

Sources confirmed that similar coordinated raids were also being conducted in Kolkata and Mumbai. This second wave of action follows leads and documents obtained during the first phase of investigation.

Earlier, several individuals had been arrested by the ED, including Vicky Bhalotia of Jugsalai (Jamshedpur), Gyanchandra Jaiswal a.k.a. Bablu Jaiswal, businessman Shiv Kumar Deora, Amit Gupta, and Sumit Gupta.

Investigations revealed that a network of shell companies was created to issue fake invoices and claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) without any real business activity, enabling large-scale tax evasion.

Officials stated that many other people were part of the wider operation, which extended across states. With the preliminary phase complete, the ED is now advancing to the next stage to uncover the full scale of the network.

Authorities expect further breakthroughs and possible arrests in the days ahead.

Last month, the GST Intelligence team arrested Ranchi-based businessmen Lav Agarwal and Gulbahar Malik in a separate but related case tied to the same network.

Back in March 2024, the Jamshedpur regional unit uncovered a ?132 crore GST fraud and arrested Shiv Kumar Deora for issuing fake invoices through dummy companies.

With inputs from IANS