Delhi: Court grants bail to GST inspector in illegal gratification case

A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to a GST official, who was accused of accepting illegal gratification from a shop owner for not cancelling his GST registration, within a week of his arrest.

Special Judge Raj Kumar Chauhan observed that the accused was in judicial custody since his arrest and cannot be kept in custody for an indefinite time.

Appearing for the GST inspector, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, submitted that his client had been falsely implicated.

"It is clear from two factors, one being that his client was alleged to have made a phone call from a number on September 9, when in fact the phone number was purchased by his client only on the 21 of the said month and two, that the illegal gratification was allegedly recovered from the pocket of his client," he submitted.

Aggarwal told the court that there was no hand touch on the alleged illegal gratification, hence plantation cannot be ruled out.

The shop owner had reported the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation, alleging that the officer had sought illegal gratification from him over the phone on September 9, 2019.

The CBI had then laid a trap and allegedly caught the officer in possession of the illegal gratification.