Anti-Corruption Bureau Ahmedabad arrest Income Tax Officer for accepting Bribe of Rs.30 Lakh

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Ahmedabad on Tuesday arrested Santosh Karnani an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax of the Central Circle Range -1 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30 lakh. However he escaped arrest, said the ACB release.

“Karnani had approached the complainant for a bribe of Rs. 30 lakh. He had summoned the complainant to his office where he repeatedly threatened to inflict a great financial damage on him and illegally requested money in exchange for weakening the case against the complainant”, according to the ACB press release.

According to the press release, searches by the Income Tax Department‘s Ahmedabad Wing at the complainant’s home, place of business, and company revealed that the complainant was being threatened based on an appraisal report provided by Karnani.

Following this, a case was brought before Karnani’s Income Tax Department in Ahmedabad’s Central Circle Range.

According to the press release, “On October 3, under the guise of assisting the complainant, he requested a bribe and the accused directed the complainant to deposit that money in a token account at a courier business, Dhara at Sindhu Bhavan Road in Ahmedabad.”

The accused officer and the complainant conversed in a way that revealed their true intentions, and the money was recovered from the courier service that later testified after the complainant gave the ACB a heads-up.

When another ACB team arrived, the release added, “The accused fled from his office.”