Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Apr 5: The houses of two income tax officers, who were caught red-handed when accepting bribe of Rs 14 lac in exchange for helping a person named Srinivas Rao to wriggle out of income tax evasion charges he is facing, were searched. During the searches, Rs 1.65 crore in cash and other documents were recovered.
Income tax officer, H R Nagesh, had been arrested when accepting money from Rao, managing director of Windsor Edifices Pvt Ltd at a coffee club in Jayanagar here by the anti corruption squad of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Later, another income tax officer, Narender Singh, was arrested. Both were produced in the court on Thursday April 4 whereupon the officers were handed over to CBI custody till Monday April 8.
In all likelihood, income tax department will suspend both the officers and order an internal inquiry against them. As per rules a government employee who is held by police for over 48 hours has to be suspended from service.
CBI officials had conducted searches in the residences and offices of Nagesh and Narender Singh on Wednesday night. They found Rs 1,35,49,650 in the residence of Nagesh. A further sum of Rs 30 lac and US dollars 1,450 were found during search in his bank lockers the next morning. Several documents relating to properties, cell phones, and pen drives, have been confiscated.
Nagesh from the city had joined the department as a lower grade assistant and had become income tax officer after promotions. Singh had joined the department as inspector in 1996-97, sources stated.
When the income tax department surveyed properties on March 6, they came across two separate receipts issued by Srinivas Rao totally amounting to Rs 40 lac to a person named Sarvotham Raju. The department thereafter served notice on Rao to be present for questioning on March 11, following which he was summoned to income tax office a number of times. He also was taken to the additional commissioner of income tax.