Two IT officials get 5 years jail term in bribery case
Thane, June 29: A special CBI court here convicted an additional commissioner of Income Tax and an assistant I-T commissioner in a Rs 1.7 crore graft case of 2010 and sentenced them to five years' imprisonment.
The additional commissioner's husband was also convicted and awarded four years in jail.
Special CBI judge Vivek Khathare yesterday sentenced additional commissioner Sumitra Banerjee, 49, a 1992 batch Indian Revenue Service officer, and assistant commissioner Anjali Bambole, 50, to five years' imprisonment for allegedly demanding Rs 1.7 crore bribe from a Thane-based builder.
Banerjee's husband Subroto, who was nabbed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while accepting Rs 1.50 crore from the builder, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on Banerjee, Rs 30 lakh on her husband and Rs 40 lakh on Bambole.
According to the CBI's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the officers had sought the money from the builder for not converting a survey action into a search operation, which gives the I-T department powers to seize unaccounted assets.
The builder had approached the CBI's ACB on April 12, 2010 claiming that the two officers, who were posted at the Thane Income Tax office, were demanding bribe to reduce tax liabilities of his firm Ram Developers.
On
March
24,
2010
a
survey
was
conducted
at
the
firm
under
Banerjee's
supervision.
Later,
the
two
officers
demanded
Rs
2
crore
from
the
builder
claiming
that
the
firm's
tax
liability
would
be
Rs
25
crore.
According to the complaint, the officers reduced the bribe amount to Rs 1.70 crore and threatened to convert the survey action into a search if he did not pay the money.
The builder then approached the CBI and lodged a complaint following which a trap was laid to nab the accused.
All
the
three
accused
were
subsequently
arrested.
They
were
currently
out
on
bail.
The
prosecution
examined
14
witnesses
to
prove
its
case.