Hyderabad: 15 taxmen ‘sacked’, cases show graft in high places

Hyderabad: If one IRS officer faced two CBI cases for criminal conspiracy and accepting bribes while his wife made stock transactions to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore, other IRS officers were involved in DRI, narcotics, disproportionate assets and bribery cases.

One was even involved in smuggling of red sanders wood. The charges against the 15 very senior IRS officers as well as those of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) who were forcibly retired by the Centre on Tuesday have taken the IRS fraternity by storm.

The officers who were compulsorily retired were of the rank of principal commissioner, commissioner and additional commissioner besides officers of the CBIC.

The data provided by the finance ministry citing the grounds on which the 15 were forced to retire reveals some very shocking details of corruption in high offices.

Dr Anup Srivastava, principal commissioner of I-T, Delhi, tops the list of officers given forced retirement. The CBI had registered a case against him in 1996 alleging that he had entered into criminal conspiracy with illegal gratification as a motive for showing favour to one M/s Jagjivan Cooperative House Building Society, Delhi, which had been trying to obtain a no-objection certificate from the government to start building activity on land purchased by them in violation of rules.

The CBI registered another case against Shrivastava for demanding and accepting bribe from an importer to cover up a case of duty evasion. He was arrested on January 13, 2012, which resulted in his suspension. He was released on bail in May 2012. The suspension was revoked in December 2013 while the CBI sought sanction for prosecution. The sanction for prosecution was granted after obtaining concurrence from the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.

There were a series of complaints against him: Complaint from UP Mentha Manufacturers Association of harassment and extortion; Huge stock transactions to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore by his wife; A penalty of Rs 20 lakh imposed on him by the estate office for non-vacation of government flat; Complaints regarding Rs 5 crore bribe by using information relating to duty evasion provided by an informer; complaints regarding selective arrests.

Commissioner was trapped by CBI
Next in the list is Atul Dikshit, commissioner of I-T. A CBI case was registered against him in 2015 for allowing fraudulent drawback of Rs 74.50 crore. Another CBI case for disproportionate assets was registered against him for owning properties in excess of 78.46 per cent to his known sources of income.

The third IRS officer is Sansar Chand, commissioner, Income Tax.

The CBI trapped him and caught him with Rs 1.5 lakh in 2018. He is accused of systematic collection of bribes.

Commissioner of Income Tax G. Shree Harsha, who worked in Chennai, had been trapped by CBI with Rs 5 lakh besides another CBI case of disproportionate assets of Rs 2.24 crore.

Vinay Brij Singh was involved a DRI case of import of 14 consignments of rough diamonds of low and inferior quality with actual value of Rs 1.2 crore.

The declared value was Rs 156 crore involving money laundering of Rs 154.88 crore. The case was referred to the CBI.

Additional commissioner from Vizag retired
Additional commissioner Ashok R. Mahida, who worked in Kolkata was trapped by the CBI with Rs 20 lakh in cash. There was a disproportionate assets case against him for owning assets to the tune of Rs 4.52 crore.

Virendra Agarwal, who worked in Nagpur GST zone, faced major penalty proceedings for allowing export of goods despite knowledge of mis-declaration of weight of consignments and raising doubts about the quality of the fabric. He had threatened the exporter’s authorised representative with arrest and demanded a bribe of `6 lakh. His role in a narcotics drug case is under investigation by the DRI, Jaipur and he had a disproportionate assets case against him.

Raju Sekar, additional commissioner in Vizag GST zone, has a CBI case against him involving payment of bribe of `13 lakh to a middleman for admission of his son in Anna University. Further investigation by CBI revealed his association with agents seeking emigration clearance for various candidates. It was revealed that Sekar used to get around Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per month and the money on his behalf was collected by a recruiting agent. Apart from that, the CBI had recovered Rs 1.76 crore in cash belonging to Sekar and held by recruiting agents. There is also a disproportionate assets case against him for owning assets to the tune of Rs 2.08 crore.

Nearly Rs 1cr cash recovered from deputy commissioner
Amresh Jain, deputy commissioner in GST Delhi zone, had a CBI disproportionate assets case for owning assets worth `1.55 crore. There was also a recovery of cash of `95.24 lakh from him.

There was a CBI case against joint commissioner Nalin Kumar for allowing fraudulent drawback of `74.5 crore in 2015 besides a CBI disproportionate assets case for owning assets to the tune of `56.82 lakh. There was a recovery of `92.95 lakh from his bank lockers.

Assistant commissioner was arrested by DRI
Among the assistant commissioners is S.S. Pabana, the officer who was arrested by the DRI for an attempt to abet export of foreign currency worth `2.20 crore.

S.S. Bisht, assistant commissioner in Bhubaneshwar GST zone, was accused of taking `10 lakh bribe from M/s Universal Agency, Kolkata, for grant of permission for transportation of fertilisers and other material to Nepal. The CBI had registered a case in this matter.

Assistant commissioner Vinod Kumar Sanga, working in the Mumbai GST zone, is accused of clearance of two consignments of over-invoiced goods without making efforts to ascertain the correct market value of the goods and draw samples despite specific instructions given by the system regarding verification of declared value and examination of packets. He is also involved in a DRI case of import and mis-declared electronic goods. The 14th officer in the list, deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Aswal, was accused of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh and the CBI had investigated the case. Mohammed Altaf, assistant commissioner, working in Allahabad, was the mastermind and investor in smuggling of red sanders in two cases. The adjudicating authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 2.05 crore on him.