Top IT officer in CBI net is worth Rs 400 crore

Jaipur: Pawan Kumar Sharma, chief income-tax commissioner of Jodhpur, who was  trapped by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly demanding Rs 23 lakh bribe from a businessman to reduce his tax liability, is said to have amassed disproportionate assets worth Rs 400 crore.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that he has many properties, including bungalows and farm houses in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bengaluru, each one of them reportedly worth Rs 50 crore. During the raid on his house, the CBI team found 50 bottles of expensive imported alcohol and expensive furniture.

Mr Sharma, a 1981 batch IRS officer, who became chief income tax commissioner last November, has been accused by the CBI of taking Rs 23 lakh bribe from a businessman in Barmer.

I-T officer Shailendra Bhandari was accepting Rs 15 lakh on Mr Sharma’s behalf when the CBI sleuths arrested him red-handed at the showroom of jeweller Chandra Prakash Katta, who was said to be acting as a mediator.

Two other senior officials, joint commissioner Jai Singh and commissioner O. P. Meena, have also been booked in the same case.

All of them have been sent to three days police custody. Although, Mr Sharma denied charges against him in the court and confronted Mr Bhandari’s allegation that the money was accepted on his behalf.

“I don’t even know him. He is lying,” Sharma reportedly told the court.

According to the CBI sources, Kishore Jain, a businessman of Barmer had complained against Mr Sharma to the CBI after he was being pressurised to pay up a huge sum to settle a tax issue.

The tax liability was allegedly raised from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 12 crore and to reduce it, Rs 23 lakh bribe was asked from Mr Jain.