CBI arrest Income Tax Commissioner for accepting bribe of Rs 40 lakh

New Delhi, April 14: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Income Tax Commissioner in Assam under charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakhs. As per early reports, the Commissioner had sought a bribe of Rs 50 lakhs initially.

The amount was recovered from a middle-man and searches were carried out on the premises linked to Shwetabh Suman in Guwahati, Jorhat, Shillong, Noida and Delhi.

The agency has also arrested Pratap Das, Income Tax Officer (Audit), Guwahati, Pranjol Sarmah, who transported the cash, and Ramesh Goenka, an advocate and Income Tax consultant.

"It was alleged that during 2017-18, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Audit), Guwahati (Suman) has entered into a conspiracy with Income Tax Officer (Audit), Guwahati, and two other accused and said private firm and unknown others, and in pursuance, thereof, the commissioner agreed to show undue favour to the director of said private firm by passing favourable order in an appeal arising out of assessment done in respect of the company of said director," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

Shwetabh Suman allegedly made attempts to obtain illegal gratification to the tune of around Rs. 50 lakh for himself and Das through said accused, he said.

"A sum of Rs.40 lakh (approx) allegedly meant for the accused IT Officials were also recovered from one of the accused and middleman," he said.