Punjab Tax Department busted a big racket of fake billing, director of Ludhiana based firm arrested – Harpal Singh Cheema

Punjab News: Reaffirming the zero-tolerance policy against economic crimes of the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Finance, Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema announced a major breakthrough achieved by the State Intelligence and Preventive Unit (SIPPU) here today. Sharing details of the action, Finance Minister Cheema said, “Today, the Tax Department has successfully busted a highly organized fake billing network and arrested Paramjeet Singh, Director and Authorized Signatory of M/s API Plastic Recyclers Pvt. Ltd., Ludhiana, for wrongfully availing fake input tax credit on fraudulent transactions worth Rs 85.4 crore and committing a huge GST scam of Rs 15.56 crore.”

Elaborating on the investigation, the Finance Minister said, “The accused firms were involved in systematic and organized tax evasion. They availed fake input tax credit on the basis of fake invoices (bills) issued by non-existent and fraudulent firms in several states, without actually receiving the goods.”

Disclosing further, the Excise and Taxation Minister said, “Our intelligence teams also found that many of the supplier firms involved in the transactions had already been automatically cancelled, suspended or declared non-functional by the concerned GST authorities. The total fraud detected so far is Rs 15.56 crore and this figure may increase further as our investigation is still strictly ongoing.”

Exposing the complex web of fraud, the Excise and Taxation Minister said, “I appreciate the detailed analysis done by our department of e-way bills and FASTag toll data. This analysis conclusively proved that the vehicles shown in the transport documents were found at locations that did not exactly match the declared movement of goods, proving that no movement actually took place. Our investigation revealed 407 such highly suspicious vehicle movements.” “, which includes fake ITC of more than Rs 2.65 crore.”

Highlighting the seriousness of the forgery of documents, Excise and Taxation Minister Cheema said, “Our investigation has also revealed a new method of involving fraudulent debit notes, through which additional fake ITC of about Rs 5.79 crore was generated. These debit notes had major irregularities in which taxable value and tax amount were shown to be the same. This is impossible under the GST law and it is clearly on record to generate fake ITC. Further, during the search action conducted under Section 67 of the PGST/CGST Act, blank Goods Receipt Books of various transporters were recovered, indicating falsification of transport documents to create false records of movement.”

Giving a strong message to tax evaders, Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “In view of the concrete evidence collected during the investigation, the accused has been arrested today, May 8, 2026, under sections 69 and 132(1)(c) of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Since the amount of tax evasion is much more than Rs 5 crore, the offense is serious and non-bailable and “I strongly reiterate the commitment of the State Tax Department to take strict action against fake billing rackets and GST frauds. Strict action will be taken against those involved in generating and using fraudulent ITC which causes loss to the State’s revenue.”