The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) uncovered a Rs 166.37-crore fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) racket being operated through more than 40 bogus entities being run from one office in Ghatkopar West. Officials said that what appeared to be a regular commercial establishment on the outside was functioning as the nerve centre of a massive paper-only supply chain where goods “existed only on documents”, while tax credits worth crores were allegedly circulated among shell firms.

The DGGI, Mumbai Zonal Unit, conducted the raid on November 18, during which officers unearthed a large cache of materials used for fabricating transactions. These included entity stamps, bank passbooks, cheque books, debit cards, multiple mobile phones, numerous SIM cards, laptops, desktop computers, and several digital storage devices. Officials said these items were instrumental in creating multiple layers of fraudulent paperwork required to maintain the facade of legitimate trade.