Bhavnagar: The economic crime cell has arrested a rickshaw driver from Bhavnagar who was shown as the owner of a dummy company in Manjalpur, Vadodara, in a tax theft scam involving the creation of dummy companies in Vadodara.

The police have busted a tax theft scam in Vadodara, where dummy companies were created and daily-wage laborers were shown as their owners. In total, six dummy companies were discovered in the scam. The economic crime cell of the city arrested Akram Lohiya, a rickshaw driver from Vithleshwar Road in Bhavnagar, who was falsely shown as the owner of a dummy company named AS Trade in Saraswati complex, Manjalpur. His accomplice, Zahir Hussain Khokhar from Sandhiyavad, Bhavnagar, was also arrested.

It has been learned that merchants, chartered accountants, and consultants are also involved in the scam. The GST division provided inputs to the police regarding the six dummy companies, which were: Messrs Rafai enterprise (Mina Bazar, Mangal Bazar), Messrs Alfaz enterprise (Arth, Old Padra road), Messrs AS Trade (Saraswati complex, Manjalpur), Chauhan Enterprise (Kunj Plaza, near Upasana society, behind Kia motors, Chhani), Messrs Ridon enterprise (Nutan Maheshwari society, Subhanpura), and Messrs Alpha enterprise (Bhandvada, Rehmat Nagar, Harni road).

The accused rickshaw driver, Akram, had received Rs. 20,000 for providing documents with his name as the owner of the dummy company, and Zahir Hussain had received Rs. 1 lakh. Bogus invoices worth Rs. 58.43 lakh were created in the name of AS Trade. DeshGujarat

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