The CBI today arrested an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in Gandhinagar for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from a construction firm for favouring it in scrutiny of tax returns.
In a late evening co-ordinated operation in Gandhinagar, CBI arrested CS Bharti, a 1994-batch Indian Revenue Services official, agency sources said in New Delhi. They said Bharti had allegedly demanded Rs 30 lakh from a constructions company—Drishti Constructions—to help it in scrutiny and assessment of its Income Tax returns.
After getting the input, the agency laid a trap, during which it was found that delivery of the bribe money was allegedly given to a third party which was arranged by a middleman on the instructions of Bharti. The agency nabbed the middleman and Bharti in connection with the case, they said, adding searches were conducted at various locations in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad.
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A special court here on Monday sentenced a former senior officer of the Income-Tax department to three-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10,000 for taking a bribe of Rs. 4 lakh.
R.K. Gupta, Additional Commissioner of Income-Tax in December 2008, demanded and accepted the bribe, from a tax consultant. The consultant approached the Anti Corruption Bureau of the CBI here. The bribe was for settlement of assessment of Income-Tax.
The CBI filed a charge sheet under Sections 7 and 13(2) r/w of the Indian Penal Code and 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
