Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: In their combined and simultaneous raids in Guwahati, Kolkata and Patna in the intervening night of June 14 and 15, 2026, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Assam Police and the state GST Department apprehended eight persons for evading tax.
The State GST Department conducted such an operation outside the state for the first time.
Three GST-registered business firms - M/s Aida Bitumex, M/s Barrel Bitumin, and Assam Bitumin - were involved in availing themselves of fake ITC (Input Tax Credit) of more than Rs 47 crore in this case. These three firms were using fake invoices to obtain fraudulent ITC.
The sleuths arrested Shahina Sultana, Shahbaz Haider, and Md Nausad from Patna. From West Bengal they arrested Deepak Shaw and Rajendra Shaw. From Guwahati, the sleuths arrested mastermind Amit Jha (advocate), Ajay Kr Yadav and Chandan Kumar.
There are several others in the Bitumin business now under the radar of the GST Department. STF SSP Pranab Kumar Pegu informed the media that the STF has registered a case regarding this matter. He said that the arrested individuals had been evading tax from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
DSP Bardie Bodo, DSP Mrinal Das, Superintendent of State Tax Monuj Kr Dowari and Superintendent of State Tax Javed Akhtar Laskar led the operations.
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