Chandigarh, May 13 -- The taxation department has detected transactions worth Rs.1,549 crore involving bogus billing or paper transactions, blocking fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims amounting to Rs.108.79 crore in the current fiscal year. This information was shared by finance and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema at a press conference here on Monday. He said the department blocked ITC worth Rs.21 crore by detecting fake invoices of Rs.900 crore in gold transactions in Ludhiana and another Rs.12 crore claimed with fraudulent invoices amounting to Rs.226 crore in coal transactions in Mohali, Kharar, and Kotkapura. "Further enforcement actions led to the blocking of ITC worth Rs.75.79 crore by uncovering bogus transactions totaling Rs.423 crore in Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh," he said. Additionally, a vehicle travelling from Ranchi to Ludhiana and carrying two kilograms of gold without an invoice was seized. An investigation is currently underway. Cheema said that during a recent operation, 195 GST-registered firms, including 156 centrally registered firms and 39 state-registered firms, were physically verified, which revealed the fraudulent paper transactions. Of these, 100 firms were located in Ludhiana and 72 in Mandi Gobindgarh. He said the department also made arrests, including an individual who was apprehended for masterminding a racket involving fake invoicing and fraudulent ITC claims worth Rs.29.5 crore. The firm in question had made inward supplies of Rs.163 crore during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years from over 60 bogus and cancelled firms, he added, sharing information following criticism by some opposition leaders of the taxation department's operation amid soaring tensions with Pakistan. The finance minister credited the department's success in carrying out these enforcement drives to the 15 modules developed under an agreement with IIT Hyderabad, along with crucial inputs from the 'Bill Liyao Inaam Pao' scheme. So far, 4,880 consumers have collectively won Rs 2.89 crore for uploading their purchase bills on the 'Mera Bill' app. He said discrepancies found in submitted bills led to the imposition of penalties totalling Rs.9 crore and recovery of Rs.7.2 crore. On the present government's goods and services tax collections, he stated that Rs.62,733 crore were collected in the last three years compared to Rs.63,042 crore collected by the previous Congress government over five years. "These figures speak for themselves," he said, accusing the opposition Congress, BJP, and Akali Dal of making "unfounded claims' about the government's enforcement activities....