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Director of film ‘Accidental Prime Minister’ arrested for GST fraud of 34 crore

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Director of the film, The Accidental Prime Minister, Vijay Ratnakar Gutte has arrested by the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI) in Mumbai for alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud of at least Rs 34 crore, according to court documents seen by The Indian Express.

His firm, VRG Digital Corp has accusations of taking “fake invoices” involving GST of Rs 34 crore for animation and manpower services received from Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd, a company that has come under the scanner of the government agency for GST fraud of over Rs 170 crore.

According to court documents, VRG Digital Corp has also wrongly claimed a cash refund of Rs 28 crore from the government against CENVAT (Central Value Added Tax) credit received for these fake invoices since July 2017.

Vijay Gutte has been booked under Section 132 (1)(c) of the CGST Act, which pertains to “wrongful availment” of input tax credit using bills and invoices that have been issued without any supply of goods or services.

The rules state that the accused is liable to be fined and imprisoned for up to five years.

“The accused (Gutte) had not only availed of non-existent input tax credit (ITC) but further went ahead and fraudulently claimed refund of such ITC from the GST department on the strength of such fake/ bogus invoices to defraud state exchequer,” said the remand application filed in the court. The agency also said that Vijay Gutte was not cooperating with the investigation.

The Accidental Prime Minister is Vijay’s directorial debut. The film is based on Sanjaya Baru’s book and stars Anupam Kher and Akshaye Khanna. It is to be released in December.

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