2 I-T officials held for graft in Bengaluru

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two Income Tax (I-T) officials in an alleged Rs 14 lakh bribery case and recovered Rs 1.65 crore in cash from them, the premier probe agency said here on Thursday.

"The I-T officers were arrested in Koramangala in the city's upscale southwest suburb on a complaint from a private firm's Managing Director after a case was registered against them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act," said a CBI statement.

The agency, however, did not disclose the names of the accused tax officials, the Managing Director or his company.

"When we received the complaint that the accused demanded Rs 14 lakh as bribe for favourably settling an issue pertaining to an I-T survey conducted at the office of the complainant on March 6, we laid a trap to nab the accused by asking them to deliver the amount in cash on Wednesday (April 3) at their office," said the statement.

"One of the officials was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe from the complainant," said the statement.

In the ensuing search, many incriminating documents were found from the premises of the accused.

"Besides Rs 1.65 crore in cash, we recovered $1,450 in foreign currency from the locker of the accused besides incriminating documents pertaining to the case, mobile phones and pen drives," added the statement.

The accused were produced before the competent court in the city for remand and interrogation.

--IANS

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