New Delhi, June 15: CBI is likely to question or seek replies to a questionnaire from former Minister of State for Finance Gingee Ramachandran in the "cash-for-transfer" scam as investigations in the case has pointed to involvement of top officials.
The case, which came to light in last week of May after the arrest of Ramachandran's personal assistant R Perumalswamy and his Chennai-based chartered accountant A Krishnamurthy for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs four lakh from an Indian Revenue Service official to get him posted to Mumbai.
Agency sources today said some top officials of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), responsible for transfer of IRS officers, had been questioned as some documents recovered from the residence of Krishnamurthy had indicated their involvement in the scam.
The sources said "some clarifications" were needed from the former minister and that he would be either questioned or a questionnaire would be sent to him for replying to the queries of the sleuths.
Ramachandran, who had to resign after the scam came to light, has already denied any involvement.
Involvement of some other officials of CBDT could not be ruled out as the board was responsible for transfer of all IRS officials, the sources said.
The sources said the interrogation of Krishnamurthy had also pointed towards the alleged involvement of some officials of the finance ministry, who were instrumental in passing the
orders for transfer after receiving illegal gratification.
Besides Krishnamurthy and Perumalswamy, the CBI arrested the IRS official Anurag Vardhan who had sought posting to Mumbai against alleged illegal gratification and Padmanabhan, a project associate at the Centre for Atmospheric Science, IIT, Delhi, who is alleged to have driven Perumalswamy to the residence of IRS official and was present when money changed hands.
The four have been charged under Section 120(B) IPC and Section 7,8,12, 13 (2) read with Section 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Bureau Report
