New Delhi, Mar 18 (IANS): The Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Delhi South Commissionerate has unearthed a racket of firms fraudulently claiming Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Rs 17 crore, and arrested two persons in this connection, an official said on Saturday.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Sanjay Kumar Srivastava and Sunil Gulati.

Later, they were presented before the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate following which both have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

An official said that a specific intelligence was developed by the officers of Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Delhi South Commissionerate concerning certain bogus firms that were created solely for the purpose of generating goods less invoices and passing on of ineligible input tax credit along the chain and printable invoice template. 

Inspections were conducted at the registered premises of three bogus firms or company M/s. NexGen Busicorp, M/s. XEL Informatics and M/s. GW Infotech Pvt. Ltd. registered in the jurisdiction of CGST Delhi South Commissionerate that were engaged in fake invoicing and circular trading.

Incriminating documents were resumed from the premises of the taxpayers.

Preliminary enquiry conducted so far into the transactions of these firms has revealed tax evasion of nearly Rs 17 crore.

"The Proprietor or Director in his confessional statements has admitted his role in passing and availing fraudulent ITC without any underlying supply of goods," an official said.

The persons behind these bogus firms have defrauded the government exchequer and committed offences specified under section 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) of the CGST Act 2017 which are cognisable and non-bailable.