CBI catches CGST official for accepting ₹5L bribe

A Central Goods and Services Tax officer in Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹5 lakh ($7,000). The officer was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe, and a total of ₹42.7 lakh in cash was recovered during searches of his premises.

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested a Central Goods and Services Tax officer of the superintendent rank posted at the Bhiwandi Commissionerate in Mumbai for allegedly demanding and accepting bribes of ₹5 lakh from a representative of a firm, the case’s complainant, for settling its pending work at the department.

HT Image

The agency carried out searches at the official and residential premises of the superintendent, identified as Hemant Kumar, in Mumbai and Ghaziabad and recovered ₹42.7 lakh cash and documents related to immovable properties.

According to the agency, Kumar was caught red-handed while accepting the first instalment of the bribe.

The accused had initially allegedly asked for a bribe of ₹30 lakh, then brought his demand down to ₹15 lakh, while the ₹5 lakh that he eventually sought was meant to be the first instalment of the illegal gratification.

“The CBI arrested the Superintendent, CGST, Bhiwandi Commissionerate, Mumbai, for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹five Lakh from the complainant. A case had been registered on a complaint against the accused officer on the allegations of demanding an undue advantage of ₹30 lakh for settling a firm’s pending GST matter and later, the accused negotiated the bribe amount to be ₹15 lakh,” a CBI official said.

Acting on the complaint, the agency laid a trap, in which the accused was caught “red-handed while accepting the bribe of ₹5 lakh from the complainant as the first instalment of the total bribe,” the official said.

The arrested accused was produced before a Mumbai special court on Friday that remanded him to CBI’s custody till August 21.