The director of The Accidental Prime Minister, Vijay Ratnakar Gutte has reportedly been arrested by the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI) in Mumbai for alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud of at least Rs 34 crore.
According to a report in The Indian Express, “Vijay Gutte has been booked under Section 132 (1)(c) of the CGST Act, which involves the wrongful availment of input tax credit using bills and invoices”.
According to the report, Vijay Gutte’s firm, VRG Digital Corp Pvt Ltd has come under the scanner for taking “fake invoices” worth Rs 34 crore for the purposes of “animation and manpower” from another company, Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd which has been accused of GST fraud of over Rs 170 crore.
According to the report, Gutte is not co-operating with the authorities and has been sent to judicial custody at Arthur Road jail till 14 August.
“The accused (Gutte) had not only availed of non-existent input tax credit (ITC) but further went ahead and fraudulently claimed refund of such ITC from the GST department on the strength of such fake/ bogus invoices to defraud state exchequer,” said the remand application filed in the court.
According to the rules, the accused is liable to be fined or imprisoned for up to five years if the amount of a wrongful refund exceeds Rs 5 crore.
Vijay Gutte marks his directorial debut with The Accidental Prime Minister. He has also produced Emotional Attyachar, Time Bara Vait and Badmashiyaan.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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