The Jharkhand High Court has refused anticipatory bail to Dilip Kumar Ramgopal Tibrewal in a case involving alleged wrongful availment of Input Tax Credit worth ₹29.11 lakh through fake invoices under the GST system. The court treated the allegations as a serious economic offence and declined to grant pre-arrest protection at this stage of the investigation.
Fake Invoice Network Under Probe
The case relates to allegations that the accused was operating multiple business entities, including M/s August Overseas Private Limited and M/s Shagun Enterprises. According to the prosecution, these firms were allegedly used to generate and circulate fake GST invoices for claiming fraudulent Input Tax Credit.
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Investigators have alleged that the firms were not engaged in genuine commercial activity and were instead used to facilitate illegal tax credit claims. The disputed ITC amount has been pegged at ₹29.11 lakh, while authorities are examining whether further irregularities may emerge during the probe.
The case has been registered under provisions related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, along with relevant sections of the Jharkhand Goods and Services Tax Act dealing with fraudulent tax credit claims.
Court Rejects Defence Arguments
During the hearing, the petitioner argued that he had been wrongly implicated and claimed he was a bona fide purchaser of goods from GST-registered suppliers. The defence also argued that the transactions were carried out in the normal course of business and that there was no intent to commit fraud.
The petitioner also sought parity with a co-accused who had earlier been granted anticipatory bail in a separate proceeding. The High Court, however, rejected the argument, observing that the circumstances and legal position of the co-accused were not comparable to the present case.
The court took note of the supplementary case diary, which reportedly identified the petitioner as the proprietor of the firms involved in the alleged transactions. It observed that the material collected during the investigation indicated active involvement rather than incidental participation.
Economic Offence Concerns Highlighted
The court emphasized the seriousness of economic offences involving misuse of public revenue systems such as GST credit mechanisms. It noted that such offences can affect the integrity of the taxation framework and cannot be viewed lightly while considering anticipatory bail.
Following the court’s decision, investigators are expected to continue examining financial records, supplier networks, invoice trails and transaction chains linked to the accused entities. Authorities are also scrutinizing digital records and banking data to trace fund flows connected to the alleged ITC claims.
The possibility of a wider network involving additional firms or individuals is also under examination. Further proceedings will depend on the outcome of ongoing forensic and financial analysis, and additional charges may be considered if new evidence emerges during the investigation.
