E-Paper
CBI arrests two GST officials from Pune office in bribery case
The complainant, who had recorded conversations with Kumar and Dekate approached the CBI, who in turn laid a trap to catch the accused red-handed
A Goods and Services Tax (GST) superintendent and a GST inspector posted at the Pune office were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), for demanding and accepting a bribe.
The complainant (whose name has been withheld), owns a restaurant on the old Pune-Mumbai highway that has both air-conditioned and non air-conditioned sections. They were paying taxes only for the air-conditioned section, claiming that the non air-conditioned section had been exempted.
According to CBI officials, the accused identified as Sanjeev Kumar, superintendent and Vivek Dekate, inspector initially demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh, from the complainant for settling the service tax liability for the financial year 2016-17 and first quarter of 2017-18. The bribe amount was reduced to Rs three lakh, post negotiations.
The complainant, who had recorded conversations with Kumar and Dekate approached the CBI, who in turn laid a trap to catch the accused red-handed.
On March 25, the CBI arrested the accused while they were accepting the first instalment of the bribe (Rs one lakh) from the complainant. The offices and residential premises of the accused were also searched by the CBI. Documents regarding acquisition of moveable and immovable properties, gold, cash, hard disks and other incriminating documents were seized.
The duo were produced before the a special court on Tuesday and have been remanded to police custody for three days.
A case has been registered against the two officials of the GST office in Pune, under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
