Income Tax Officer gets 4 years Imprisonment for accepting Bribe of Rs.75000 Crore

A special court sentenced a 53-year-old income tax officer to four years in jail for taking a bribe of Rs 75,000 on Wednesday. Preetha Babukuttan was declared guilty on multiple counts, including the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested Babukuttan in 2015 after receiving a report from the owner of an engineering company. According to the accuser, his company’s income tax returns were submitted by a chartered accountant, but they were scrutinised by income tax authorities. Babukuttan issued a notice to his company, directing him to present appropriate paperwork. He was later informed that Babukuttan was seeking a bribe of Rs 1.3 lakh to finish the assessment.

He met with Babukuttan in March 2015, and she informed him that his firm’s tax obligation for 2009-10 would be around Rs 4-5 lakh. Babukuttan also informed him she would lower the liability and wanted a bribe for it. A trap was then set, and Babukuttan was apprehended, Special Public Prosecutor P K B Gaikwad told the court.

Babukuttan had alleged that she had been unjustly accused. “It is clear that the accused demanded, accepted, and obtained illegal gratification from the complainant, other than her legal remuneration, and obtained a pecuniary advantage for herself through corrupt or illegal means and by abusing her official position, which certainly amounts to criminal misconduct by a public servant,” Special Judge M R Purwar wrote in his order.