CID Probes MAC Scam: Fake GST Bills, Ghost Firms and Fabricated Rs 64-Crore Supply Exposed

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The fraud case related to the fake supply of goods in the Matak Autonomous Council (MAC) has now taken a new turn after the CID submitted a status report on the investigation into the case before the CJM Court here.

The CID had registered a case (2/2026) against Sabharwal Trading India Pvt. Ltd (STIPL) for fraud in the supply of goods to the Matak Autonomous Council on the direction of the Gauhati High Court.

In an FIR lodged by Pavneet Gulati, it is stated that an earlier FIR was lodged by STIPL and its associates, Rajinder Sharma and Mohit Kalra, and in pursuance to the same, CID P.S. Case No. 16/2023 was registered. It was alleged in the said FIR that the accused persons have lured the informant and other victims to supply and deliver blankets, school bags and mosquito nets. It was also alleged in the said FIR that an MoU was executed between STIPL and Matak Autonomous Council and purchase orders were issued in favour of STIPL, valued at Rs.110,50,00,000 and Rs.31,32,00,000. It was alleged that pursuant to the purchase orders, STIPL supplied the required quantity of school bags, blankets and mosquito nets between the period from October 2022 to December 2022 to the Matak Autonomous Council. For the said supply, Rs.4.4 crores were paid to STIPL, and an amount of Rs.59 crores remained to be paid along with Government of Assam stamps.

The informant in the instant FIR has tried to bring to the notice of the police that the business between the STIPL and the Matak Autonomous Council was a fraud and that they got the FIR registered at CID, Assam, by fabricating the facts. It is also stated that the fraud includes the sale of goods only on paper, devoid of the actual delivery of the goods. However, the requested FIR was not registered, despite a formal request for its registration and an investigation into the facts.

The petitioner, Pavneet Gulati, further submitted that the earlier FIR which was registered in a CID case, which resulted in a charge sheet and the trial, projected a totally incorrect story. To bring to notice that such a proceeding was wrong, the petitioner preferred the instant FIR, which was again not registered, as stated above. He further submitted that the entire case is based on a fabricated narrative only to shield the actual financial fraud committed by STIPL.

Based on the CID probe, Harish Bansal and Khushdeep Bansal were arrested on February 4, 2024. Thereafter, it was discovered that STIPL, along with associates, was the mastermind in the crime, and they got the wrong FIR registered with CID by fabricating the facts. It also emerged that the entire sequence of events resulted from fraudulent activities involving fake GST bills, which were used to create a loss on the STIPL balance sheet. Most of the companies are ghost companies that were in existence for a short duration of time, and their transactions were limited to this alleged transaction. Furthermore, the instant case is a classical example whereby a group of individuals (co-accused in the present case) have been running a closely knit web of scams for the purpose of securing fake orders. This led to an inquiry as to the genuineness of the supply of goods by the STIPL. They came to learn from reliable sources that the entire transaction and supply were fabricated by STIPL and its associates. They had created a complete nexus in collaboration with other shell companies from purchase to sale. It was learnt that they had never purchased any such materials nor sold them to the Matak Autonomous Council; however, they raised invoices to the tune of Rs.64 crores approximately under retail sales without any GST number, whereas they knew that a GST number is mandatory for all transactions, whether it is banking, private or any other govt organisation, and this was done in collusion by STIPL and Partha Bharadwaj.

That STIPL had colluded with Partha Bharadwaj and others to fake sale bills of Rs 64 crores along with PODs to look real by the use of the state government emblem and other stationery items, for which they gained huge sums by tax evasion using fake government stamps.

The above-mentioned investigations into the GST documents are crucial to establishing that the very basis of FIR CID PS Case no. 16/2023 at CID Police Station, Guwahati, does not exist and that Khusdeep and Harish are as much victims of STIPL’s wrongdoing. The investigation is essential to protect their constitutional right to life under Article 21, as they have been wrongly in jail for one year. It was pointed out that the name of Assam has been wrongly portrayed and STIPL, along with its associates, have misused government stamps. An investigation has now been sought to clear the names of Khusdeep and Harish, against whom an FIR was registered based on wrong or fabricated facts supplied by STIPL.

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