Former I-T commissioner gets three years’ RI

A former commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) and his wife were convicted on Monday in a disproportionate assets case by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. The court has also confiscated the disproportionate assets found on them.

A former commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) and his wife were convicted on Monday in a disproportionate assets case by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. The court has also confiscated the disproportionate assets found on them.

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Special CBI judge, NP Dhote convicted Vishwanath Shrivastav, 67, and sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rsfive lakh and his wife Nisha, 59, to one-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs50,000. The duo was held guilty under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Anand Beohar, 68, Shrivastav’s brother-in-law, who was charged with abetment was acquitted in the case. The judge has directed Shrivastav to deposit Rs 2,83,228 in addition to the fine imposed on him. The CBI said they received information from sources that Shrivastav, while he was an IT commissioner from 1986 to 1994, had amassed ill-gotten wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income by abusing his official position.

In 1997, the CBI registered a case after due investigation, and in 2001 a chargesheet was filed against the three.

“While filing the chargesheet, Shrivastav had assets worth Rs19lakhs that were disproportionate to his known source of income,” said CBI counsel Azhar Ansari. Shrivastav could furnish evidence for Rs 10 lakhs of assets and was held guilty for the rest of the amount. “We also proved that his wife helped him by opening bank accounts under fictitious names,” Ansari added.