CBI arrests Assistant Commissioner Raj Kumar Bhatia, who allegedly asked builder to pay his subordinate Rs 2 lakh.
Suresh Khaitan, the Income Tax official arrested on a bribery charge on Wednesday, had been contacting I-T assessees and threatening to initiate tax inquiries against them allegedly on behalf of his boss Assistant Commissioner Raj Kumar Bhatia, CBI investigations have revealed. Khaitan, who was earlier posted at Aayakar Bhavan on Queens Road, Marine Lines, had been transferred a couple of months ago, but was on leave as he was not inclined to join the new posting. Yet, during his leave, Khaitan contacted a builder on behalf of Bhatia, CBI sources said. Khaitan first threatened the builder with reopening of a tax assessment inquiry, and then asked him to approach Bhatia. Bhatia then allegedly negotiated a deal for Rs 12.51 lakh, and directed the builder to pay the first instalment of Rs 2 lakh to Khaitan. The CBI caught Khaitan accepting the bribe when the builder complained. Bhatia was arrested a couple of hours later from his residence.
“We have seized some more files from Khaitan’s house pertaining to top assessees, whom he is suspected to have contacted on behalf of Bhatia. We are investigating the matter,” SP (CBI) Pravin Salunkhe told Mumbai Mirror. CBI authorities said that during a search of Khaitan’s house, they found Rs 6.5 lakh cash and fixed deposit certificates worth Rs 19 lakh. They are seeking an account of this money from Khaitan. Meanwhile, sources said that soon after Khaitan was arrested, Bhatia got a whiff of it and escaped. On his way to the airport, from where he planned to catch a flight for Indore, Bhatia dropped his mobile phone in the Mithi river. He later changed his plan and went home. “There was no reason for Bhatia to destroy his mobile phone. This shows his complicity in the bribe case,” a CBI official said.
