Last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested four income tax higher officials and an advocate for receiving bribery.
On 22nd March, the CBI has registered a case U/s 120 B r/w 417, 468, 471 of IPC r/w 201 of IPC, Section 66 of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 15 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the then Deputy Director of Income Tax (Investigation), Unit-1, Bhubaneswar; a Private Business Group of Cuttack and unknown others on a complaint received from the Department of Income Tax. It was alleged that the then Deputy Director of Income Tax was involved in tampering of the external hard disk which was seized during the course of the search operation of the Income Tax, Bhubaneswar in the case of said Private Business Group of Cuttack on 30/31.10.2013.
Searches have been conducted at the office & residential premises of DDIT at New Delhi & Ghaziabad (UP) and at the office premises of said Private Business Group of Cuttack (Odisha) which led to the recovery of incriminating documents/ articles.
In another instance, the CBI has arrested an Income Tax Officer, Ward 3(1), Aurangabad (Maharashtra) for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. Two lakh from the complainant. A case was registered U/s 7 of PC Act, 1988, against an Income Tax Officer, Ward 3(1), Aurangabad on a complaint. It was alleged that the Income Tax Officer demanded the bribe of Rs.2 lakh from the complainant (a businessman of Aurangabad) for settling his income tax liability for the Assessment Year 2010-11. CBI laid a trap and caught the Income Tax Officer red handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. Two lakh from the complainant. Searches were conducted at the office & residential premises of accused at Aurangabad & Nashik which led to the recovery of incriminating documents and papers related to the acquisition of assets.
Similarly, a case was registered u/s 120-B r/w Section 7 of PC Act, 1988 against the Income Tax Officer, Income Tax Office, Badpur, Farrukhabad and an Advocate, resident of Farrukhabad on a complaint. It was alleged that accused has demanded the bribe of Rs.5 Lakh which was subsequently reduced to Rs.4 Lakh for settling an inquiry to be conducted by ITO in connection with the purchase of land by the complainant. CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs.1,50,000/- as part payment of total bribe from the complainant. The Advocate has allegedly played the role of middleman between the complainant and ITO.
On 6th March, a case was registered under section 7 of PC Act, 1988 against Inspector, Income Tax (Audit), Income Tax Office, Vanijya Nikunj, Udyog Vihar, Phase-V, Gurgaon. It was alleged in the complaint that the accused was demanding the bribe of Rs. One Lakh in respect of the assessment of the Filling Station (Petrol Pump) at District Nuh(Haryana) registered in the name of the complainant’s son. It was further alleged that the Income Tax Inspector had called the complainant to his office and during their meeting, the accused demanded the said bribe for not imposing additional Income Tax of Rs.10 lakh on the said firm. CBI laid a trap and caught the accused while demanding & accepting the bribe of Rs.One Lakh. Searches are being conducted today at the premises of accused including at Mahipalpur Extension, Delhi.
