Vijay R Gutte, director of the forthcoming film The Accidental Prime Minister, and son of a leading Maharashtra businessman close to the BJP has been arrested in a case of alleged Rs 34-crore GST fraud. The fraud was said to be committed through fake documents, official sources. Gutte has been remanded in custody till August 14 by a Mumbai court.
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According to DGGSTI, Gutte’s firm VRG Digital Corp Pvt Ltd (VRGDCPL) allegedly received fake invoices involving GST of around Rs 34 crore for animation and manpower services from Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd (HOSPL).
The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI) has booked Gutte under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act on charge of wrongfully availing input tax credit through fake bills and invoices.
If found guilty, Gutte could face a penalty and jail for five years, the sources said.
Under the GST regime, the input tax credit permits taxpayers to claim credit for taxes paid on purchases after submission of proper documents. Incidentally, the HOSPL is already under investigations in another massive GST fraud case.
Besides, VRGDCPL had also claimed refunds of Rs 28 crore under the Central VAT credits availed for these fraudulent invoices for over a year.
“The accused (Gutte) had not only availed of non-existent input tax credit (ITC) but further went ahead and fraudulently claimed a refund of such ITC from the GST department on the strength of such fake/ bogus invoices to defraud state exchequer,” said the remand plea.
Gutte’s father Ratnakar Gutte is a prominent sugar baron of Parbhani and had contested the 2014 Assembly elections as a BJP-alliance candidate but lost to the Nationalist Congress Party.
Last month, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde (NCP), had raised the issue of how Ratnakar Gutte had allegedly availed loans of Rs 5,400 crore in the name of more than 25,000 farmers from various banks through 22 shell companies.
However, Vijay Gutte had rubbished Munde’s allegations.
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Gutte’s directorial ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ stars Kher in the title role of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Akshaye Khanna as his Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru. Prior to his directorial debut, Gutte has produced three films.
The film, whose promo clips have caused a huge buzz on the social media, is based on Baru’s book and slated for a December release.