For Rs 3 cr, I’ll tear off the complaint

The Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax department, who was recently arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had told the complainant that if he was paid Rs 3 crore, he would tear off the page of the register where the complaint entry was made against complainant’s company. 

The taxman demanded bribe in bullion and suggested to the complainant that if he bought gold for crores of rupees he just had to show it in his I-T returns but need not pay tax as Wealth Tax is abolished by the government. He also suggested that complainant could lodge an FIR after one year for loss of gold, and he would not have any problem as police would not recover the gold.

On September 22, CBI sleuths arrested Dy I-T Commissioner Jaipal Swamy and his associates Kamlesh Shah and Prathmesh Masdeskar in the alleged graft case.

According to the CBI officials, Swamy was doing assessments for complainant A Muthu’s company for the year 2014-15. It is alleged that Swamy showed Muthu a complaint against his company regarding tax evasion and said that he would make the said complaint disappear by tearing off the page of the register where the entry was made and pass favourable assessment order without considering the complaint. He demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore, which was later brought down to Rs 3 crore. He agreed to accept half the bribe amount in cash and half in cheque from Muthu.