I-T official held for taking Rs 1.7-cr bribe

The CBI has arrested an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (I-T) and her husband, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1.7 crore from a local builder in Thane, Maharashtra.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (I-T) and her husband, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1.7 crore from a local builder in Thane, Maharashtra.

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The CBI on Friday arrested Sumitra Banerjee, an Indian Revenue Service officer of 1992 batch and her husband Subroto Banerjee, who was tasked by her to collect the third installment of the bribe worth Rs. 1.5 crore under a Mulund flyover.

The CBI also lodged a bribery case against Sumitra’s junior colleague, Assistant Commissioner Anjali V. Bambole, who had accepted an installment of the bribe worth Rs 10 lakh.

Bambole was being interrogation and is yet to be arrested. The CBI also suspects complicity of Sumitra’s "superior officer” in the case. Sumitra had pressurised the builder, who is the complainant in the case, to pay the bribe to reduce his tax liability considerably.

According to the complaint, Bambole had conducted a survey at the complainant’s office on March 24, after which Sumitra had informed him that his tax liability would be Rs. 25 crore; Bambole threatened to convert the survey into a search to freeze his bank accounts.

Sumitra offered to reduce the tax liability to Rs 2 crore if she was paid a bribe of Rs 4 crore. Later, she reduced the bribe sum to Rs 2 crore and the tax liability to Rs. 1.05 crore.