CBI Files Chargesheet against Senior Income Tax Official

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against five defendants, including the then-principal commissioner of income-tax (PCIT) for Patna and Dhanbad, Santosh Kumar, and four others, in a case involving a Rs.10 lakh bribe, the agency said on Tuesday.

“As per the information disclosing the commission of a cognizable offence, the CBI registered a case on August 26 this year on allegations that the said PCIT was demanding and accepting illegal gratification from various income-tax assesses under his jurisdiction in order to cause undue benefit to them through abuse of his official position. It was also stated that many conduits were acting on behalf of the then-PCIT (Patna and Dhanbad),” according to the central investigating agency.

The CBI set up a trap at the Patna income-tax office on August 26, where Santosh and another man, Rajiv Kumar alias Chiku, a resident of Ashoka Palace, Exhibition Road (Patna), were apprehended and detained while transacting a bribe of Rs.10 lakh at Ayakar Bhavan here.

“Furthermore, the role of three more persons – Gurpal Singh, Ashok Chaurasia (both residents of Katras Road, Dhanbad) and Dr Pranay Purbay – also came forward in the course of the investigation before the trap,” the police reported.