Jodhpur, June 24 -- The Jodhpur West police on Monday arrested seven people who have been accused of setting up fake firm networks to illegally claim GST input tax credit worth Rs.524 crore, an officer said, adding that the racket operated across 22 states, exploiting forged documents and shell companies to pass on fraudulent GST credits. "The cyber cell and district special team unearthed the scam after extensive investigation revealed the use of forged identity documents - including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, mobile numbers, and email IDs - to create shell firms in the name of unsuspecting individuals. A total of 240 such firms were traced, of which 44 were linked through direct identification and the rest through data analysis," said Rajarshi Raj Verma, DCP (West). He further said that out of the Rs.524 crore GST fraud, Rs.278 crore was identified as fake input credit availed and Rs.246 crore as fake credit passed on. The accused who were arrested have been identified as Praveen Panwar (28), Saddam Husain, Kishan Singh (38), Ranveer Singh (28), Gajendra Singh (25), Chailaram (35), and Amit Bhati (37), all residents of rural or urban Jodhpur, he added....