Bhavnagar, May 5 (IANS): A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Gujarat Police on Thursday filed charges against 15 individuals in Bhavnagar district for creating bogus pedigree certificates of Goods and Services Tax (GST) worth Rs 11.02 crore, and making fraudulent claims of Rs 1,22,36,28,709 by generating fake invoices.

The accused individuals allegedly used the personal data of uneducated and poor people from Bhavnagar district to obtain their Aadhaar and PAN cards. They then purchased new SIM cards using these cards and registered them under the names of these people on the GST website. The accused then used the technology of the government to generate fake bills, causing a significant loss to the government exchequer.

Bhavnagar range IGP Gautam Parmar had formed the SIT to investigate four cases of fraud lodged at different police stations.

Out of the total 461 bogus pedigree certificates, the accused used 236 certificates to make fraudulent claims of Rs 1,22,36,28,709 (1.22 billion) by creating fake invoices.