Hyderabad man arrested in Visakhapatnam over ₹264 crore fake GST ITC fraud
HYDERABAD: The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Vijayawada Regional Unit, has arrested a Hyderabad-based man for allegedly orchestrating a fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) racket involving fraudulent transactions worth more than ₹264 crore.
The accused, identified as Dhantla Aadi Reddy alias Anji Reddy, 36, is a resident of Vijay Sree Colony in LB Nagar, Rangareddy district, Telangana. Investigators alleged that he operated an organised syndicate using fictitious firms registered in the names of unrelated and dummy persons.
According to DGGI officials, the accused prima facie committed offences punishable under Sections 132(1)(b), 132(1)(c), 132(1)(f), 132(1)(i), and 132(1)(l) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017.
Investigation points to organised fake GST network
Officials said the investigation involved analysis of GST records, banking transactions, electronic evidence, documentary material and field verification. Statements recorded under Section 70 of the CGST Act allegedly established that Aadi Reddy was the mastermind behind a syndicate comprising 92 fictitious firms.
DGGI alleged that the network fraudulently availed ITC worth about ₹264.87 crore and passed on ITC amounting to around ₹260.54 crore without any actual supply or movement of goods and services.
Investigators said statements of Ramavath Nagaraju Naik, Siddagoni Prabhakar, Jalasutram Ashok Kumar, Jonalla Gayathri and others indicated that the accused arranged dummy proprietors, procured Aadhaar and PAN credentials, created fake premises and fabricated rental documents for GST registrations, and operated multiple bank accounts linked to the firms.
Several firms found non-existent during verification
Officials said field verification revealed that several firms were non-existent at their declared business addresses and existed only on paper to generate fake invoices and e-way bills for fraudulent ITC claims.
Statements of several dummy proprietors allegedly showed that their identity documents had been used to run the fake ITC network, officials added.
Aadi Reddy was arrested and produced before the economic offences court in Visakhapatnam on May 15, 2026. The court remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.
