2 Senior GST Officers arrested Allegedly Demanding Rs 1 Crore Bribe

The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), in a major anti-corruption action, has apprehended two senior SGST officers in Nashik for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe amounting to Rs. 1 crore to settle a tax investigation. An individual acted as an intermediary during the crime by accepting the bribe amount on behalf of the accused officials; he is recognised as Amit Hiraman Jadhav. He has also been arrested for being connected with the case.

According to the reports, the arrest was made by two officials of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) named Somnath Dattu Page and Machhindra Vitthal Donde on March 06, 2026, when a businessman filed a complaint with the bureau, claiming that they had demanded a significant bribe to close an ongoing GST inquiry against him.

Following the registered complaint, the Anti-Corruption Bureau planned a trap to catch the accused red-handed while accepting the bribe amount. During the operation, they caught Jadhav (the intermediary) while he was accepting Rs 20 lakh in cash. Subsequently, searches were conducted at the place linked to the accused, where authorities found an additional Rs 2 lakh bribery amount.

When all three arrests were made successfully, they were all produced before a local court in Nashik, which then sent them back to police custody till March 09 and directed authorities to ease further investigation into the case.