CBI books two I-T officers in 2 separate corruption cases

The accused allegedly told the complainant to pay a sum of ₹5 lakh to avoid a demand notice of ₹1 crore against pending dues and for closure of the proceedings. After negotiations, he reduced the amount to ₹2 lakh.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked an Income Tax Officer (ITO) for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹5 lakh from a city-based senior citizen for non-issuance of a demand notice of ₹1 crore against his purported tax assessment dues. The accused official, S Kumar, allegedly told the complainant that the bribe should be paid to him via hawala route in Delhi.

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After the senior citizen’s daughter filed a complaint, the CBI registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act on March 9. The complainant told the CBI that her father, who is a “heavy tax payer”, had received a notice on January 25 from the Income Tax department for the assessment years of 2019- 20 and 2020 – 21. On January 28, their chartered accountant had filed a response on the portal and received an acknowledgement as well.

However, on February 5, her father received a WhatsApp call on his mobile from a man, who identified himself as S Kumar from the I-T office in New Delhi. He said that he was handling his case and will soon issue a demand notice of ₹1 crore against the pending dues. Since the senior citizen was not well versed with tax matters, he asked his daughter to speak to the officer. Kumar, thereafter, allegedly told the complainant to pay a sum of ₹5 lakh to avoid the demand notice of ₹1 crore and for closure of the proceedings. After negotiations, he reduced the amount to ₹2 lakh and assured the complainant that after he receives the payment, he will give a favourable order to her father.

In a separate case, the CBI ‘s Pune unit booked an ITO based in Jalgaon, R Ranjan, in a corruption case for asking for a bribe of ₹5,000 to cancel the newly-allotted Permanent Account Number Card of the complainant. The complainant had allegedly submitted the required documents for cancellation, but her work had not been processed, according to the CBI.