A special court here has awarded four years of rigorous imprisonment(RI) and a fine of Rs 35 lakh to the former Income Tax officer B S Banthia for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. The sentence was awarded by the Special Judge (CBI) Shailendra Shukla against Banthia yesterday. The court also awarded two years sentence to his companion, Sushma Shukla and slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh against her as Banthia had purchased a huge property in her name.
Banthia, who was posted in Gwalior as Additional Commissioner of Income Tax between 1991 and January 2002, had amassed wealth worth Rs 1.26 crore, which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.
During the probe, he was unable to give a convincing reply, the CBI chargesheet said. In 2001, CBI’s Bhopal branch got the information that Banthia had amassed a huge wealth grossly disproportionate to his known sources of income. He had also purchased land worth nearly Rs 1.25 crore at Chhota Rawla estate, near Indore. CBI said that Sushma could not have purchased the land on her own as she did not have adequate funds for it.
PTI
