New Delhi, April 18
An Income Tax Joint Commissioner and a Chartered Accountant have been arrested by the CBI in Kolkata for allegedly demanding and accepting Rs 5 lakh bribe from the proprietor of an engineering company in connection with assessment of annual income of the company, the CBI press note said here today.
The accused K.K. Tiwari and the Chartered Accountant Manoj Tiwari were arrested on the charges of graft and are being produced before a designated court for remand, it said.
Following the arrest, searches were conducted at the official residence of the Joint Commissioner and a cash amount of Rs 1 lakh besides jewellery worth Rs 5.44 lakh and other household items worth Rs 6.02 lakh were recovered, the CBI said.
The CBI had registered a case on the complaint of the proprietor that Tripathi had demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from him for approving the proposal of the ITO for levying of 8 per cent tax on annual income of the complainant on the return filed by him for the financial year 2002-03 which was taken up for scrutiny by the Income Tax Department on the tax amount calculated at Rs 3.7 lakh approximately and also for allowing the matter to rest instead of referring the file for reassessment of the return.
The income tax official reportedly threatened the complainant that in case he did not pay the bribe, he would pass adverse orders against the complainant, the CBI said.
On the basis of the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and the official was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs 5 lakh, it said adding the Chartered Accountant was also arrested for his involvement in the demand and acceptance of bribe.
