The director of two mining companies has been arrested in Nagaland for his alleged role in a large Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud involving more than ₹53 crore, officials said on Sunday.The arrest was made by the Anti-Evasion Unit of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) department in Dimapur after a detailed investigation into irregularities found in GST filings of the two firms. The case relates to the alleged wrongful claim of input tax credit (ITC) without any actual supply of goods.The accused has been identified as Atiqur Rahman Barbhuiya, who is the director of Bendangtoshi Mining Pvt Ltd and Kevitho Mining Pvt Ltd. According to officials, both companies are engaged in the supply of coal and coke.
During scrutiny of GST returns, CGST officials found that Bendangtoshi Mining Pvt Ltd had allegedly availed fraudulent ITC amounting to ₹27.52 crore, while Kevitho Mining Pvt Ltd was accused of wrongly claiming ₹25.76 crore. Together, the alleged fraud totalled ₹53.28 crore.Officials said the investigation revealed that invoices were issued and received without any actual movement of goods. The firms reportedly failed to produce required documents such as e-way bills, transport details, and bank transaction records to support the claimed transactions. This raised serious doubts about the authenticity of the business activities shown in official records.
Further physical verification carried out by the CGST team showed that both companies were either not operating or were not found at their registered business addresses. This strengthened the suspicion that the firms existed only on paper and were being used to generate fake invoices for claiming tax benefits.Based on the findings, Barbhuiya was arrested on January 10 under Sections 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) of the CGST Act, 2017. These sections deal with issuing invoices without supplying goods and wrongfully availing input tax credit. Officials stated that the offences are cognisable and non-bailable under the law.
