CBI announced reward on 'absconding' IRS officer in bribery case

CBI announced reward on 'absconding' IRS officer in bribery case The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) has issued a reward of Rs.1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of IRS officer Santosh Karnani, who has been "missing" since October 4 after his name was discovered in a Rs.30 lakh suspected bribery case, officials said on Thursday. The central investigation agency also obtained a non-bailable arrest order from a special CBI court against the officer after he "failed to join the inquiry" despite four notices from the agency, they claimed. The agency conducted searches at 21 places on November 19 and 21, including the homes of certain relatives and others, including some Income Tax officers, which resulted in the discovery of incriminating documents, articles, and a Rs.41.9 lakh investment in the form of Fixed Deposits, they claimed. They stated that the documents found during searches are being examined. The official, who worked as an additional income tax commissioner class-I in Ahmedabad, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from builder Rupesh Bramhabhatt. According to his complaint, the Income Tax Department searched Bramhabhatt's offices and created an evaluation report, which was then given to the Central Circle-1 of Ahmedabad for issuing "demand notices." According to the First Information Report, Karnani, who took over the case, reportedly sought the money in exchange for not doing anything that could cause the complaint significant financial loss (FIR). The official allegedly directed Karnani to deposit the money with the 'angadia' firm account in the name of one 'Vardhaman,' according to the CBI FIR. Meanwhile, the CBI probe discovered that the Vardhman account with the courier business, into which the bribe was deposited, was reportedly owned by one Malav Mehta, they added. The builder had complained to the Ahmedabad Police Anti-Corruption Branch, which initiated a trap operation on October 4, but the officer allegedly managed to get away with it, they added. Karnani was transported to Guwahati over a week after the trap operation, but he has yet to go to work and is on "unauthorised leave," according to officials. The Gujarat government turned over the case to the CBI, which has issued four notices so far, but the officer has refused to cooperate with the probe. The CBI issued a lookout circular against the 2005-batch officer to prevent him from fleeing the nation and searched multiple locations, including his hometown of Jaipur, they added. During the probe, it had emerged that the officer was habitually seeking huge bribes, they alleged. The central probe agency has found that Karnani was in the "Agreed List" of the government since 2015 yet he kept getting important postings in the department, they said.