I-T officer gets 4-year jail for accepting ₹75K bribe

The convict, Preetha Babukuttan, (53), was booked based on a complaint lodged by Ravindra Mhatre – a partner in M/s Ashish Engineering Company.

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Wednesday convicted an Income Tax officer and sentenced her to four years imprisonment for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹75,000 for reducing the tax liability of the complainant in March 2015.

Since the complainant was not willing to pay the bribe, he approached the anti-corruption wing of the CBI and lodged a complaint against the accused. CBI, based on his complaint, arranged a trap. Meanwhile, the complainant negotiated the bribe amount to ₹75,000. Later, Babukuttan accepted ₹75,000 from the complainant and was arrested. (Getty Images)

The convict, Preetha Babukuttan, (53), was booked based on a complaint lodged by Ravindra Mhatre – a partner in M/s Ashish Engineering Company. His wife was the other partner in the business.

Their chartered accountant, RV Ruparel, had filed income tax returns for his firm for the financial year 2008-2009 and the assessment year 2009-2010 with the Income Tax authorities in Bandra. The income tax returns came under the scrutiny of Income Tax authorities after which Ruparel informed the complainant that the accused had demanded a bribe of ₹1.30 lakh to clear the assessment.

Hence, on March 19, 2015, the complainant met the convict at her office, where Babukuttan informed him that the tax liability of his firm would be around ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh for the Assessment Year 2009-2010. She further offered to reduce it to ₹55,000 by allowing the expenses under various heads and for this demanded ₹1 lakh and asked him to come back on March 23, 2015.

Since the complainant was not willing to pay the bribe, he approached the anti-corruption wing of the CBI and lodged a complaint against the accused. CBI, based on his complaint, arranged a trap. Meanwhile, the complainant negotiated the bribe amount to ₹75,000. Later, Babukuttan accepted ₹75,000 from the complainant and was arrested.

In her defence, the accused claimed that, when the complainant offered to bribe her, she went to her superior to complain about him and taking advantage of her absence, the accused kept money in her drawer. The court rejected her theory observing that the accused brought no evidence to prove her claim and no witness was examined to prove the counterclaim and in absence of evidence, the court held her guilty of demanding and accepting the bribe from the complainant.