Mumbai I-T Commissioner arrested for graft

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a top Income Tax official on graft charges.

Mumbai: A top Income Tax official and his
Chartered Accountant aide were arrested on Friday night for
accepting bribe from a software engineer for giving a closure
report in an income tax scrutiny case, CBI officials said on Sunday.

The accused, Ramphool P Meena (51), Commissioner of
Income Tax (Appeals) and his aide U P Pai (65) were arrested
last night for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 2.20 lakh
from a complainant working in a private firm, said Joint
Director of CBI, Rishiraj Singh.

According to CBI Anti Corruption Bureau(ACB), the
42-year-old software engineer was asked to pay income tax of
Rs 20 lakh for the assessment year 2006-07. He challenged the
order in the appeal wing of the IT department saying his tax
liability was wrongly calculated and it worked out to only
Rs 9 lakh, CBI officials said.
"The victim approached Meena a year-and-half ago. The
Commissioner demanded Rs 10 lakh through his aide Pai for
giving the closure report," said Superintendent of Police
Abhin Modak.

The victim showed his inability to pay the huge bribe
when Pai asked him to shell out Rs 5 lakh. Finally, the victim
agreed to pay Rs 2.2 lakh to get his work done, Modak added.
Subsequently, the victim approached CBI which asked
him to go the IT official`s office in South Mumbai with a
recorder to record his conversation with Meena and Pai.

PTI

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