Ludhiana: Excise and taxation officials arrested for accepting ₹5L bribe

The arrested accused, who have been identified as ETO Sandeep Singh and excise and taxation inspector Vishal Sharma, allegedly accepted a bribe of ₹5 lakh in cash from a businessman in Ludhiana

The economic offence wing of the Vigilance Bureau’s Ludhiana range on Thursday arrested an excise and taxation officer (ETO) and an excise and taxation inspector on graft charges.

Vigilance’s team carried out an operation to arrest accused officials, who were caught red-handed while taking a bribe of ₹5 lakh as a first instalment in the presence of two official witnesses, in Ludhiana. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The accused, who have been identified as ETO Sandeep Singh and excise and taxation inspector Vishal Sharma, allegedly accepted a bribe of ₹5 lakh in cash from a local businessman.

A spokesperson of the Vigilance bureau said the accused, posted in the goods and services tax (GST) wing of the Excise and Taxation department, Ludhiana, have been arrested on the complaint of Ravinder Kumar, a resident of Sarabha Nagar.

The complainant had earlier approached the Vigilance Bureau and alleged that the accused excise officials were demanding a bribe of ₹15 lakh in lieu of writing off a fine imposed on his firm during a survey conducted by the department. The deal, as per the complainant, was struck at ₹12 lakh.

Vigilance’s team carried out an operation to catch accused officials, who were caught red-handed while taking a bribe of ₹5 lakh as a first instalment in the presence of two official witnesses.

A case under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against both the accused at the Vigilance Bureau police station, economic offences wing, Ludhiana. Further investigation was under progress.