New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS): The officers of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerate, Delhi East, have unearthed a multi-layered network of fictitious firms being used by their operators to generate and pass on fake ITC (input tax credit).

Through the use of extensive data analytics, officers of Delhi East GST were able to identify and unravel a network of 46 fake firms which were operating since 2017 and had passed on fake ITC to multiple beneficiaries, a finance ministry release said.

The investigation revealed that the fictitious firms were being controlled by Arvind Kumar and his associates. He was arrested on January 17 and is now in judicial custody.

The key associate of Kumar, one Kamal Singh (alias 'Kamal Solanki'), had been absconding for the past one month. However, through persistent efforts the officers could finally apprehend Singh who has confessed to have been involved in the racket of fake billing, the release added.

The operation involved raising fake invoices of Rs 541.13 crore involving fake ITC of Rs 82.23 crore, which is expected to increase as the investigation progresses, the release said.

Kamal Singh has been arrested under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate on Tuesday, who remanded him to judicial custody of 14 days till February 23. This is the second arrest made in the investigation.

Since the inception of GST Central Tax, Delhi Zone has made 21 arrests in various cases involving GST evasion amounting to more than Rs 3,791.65 crore.