Principal IT commissioner, 11 others booked for corruption

The CBI on Wednesday registered a case against a Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi, S.K. Mittal and 11 others, including eight public servants, on the allegation of availing undue favours, an official said.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams also carried out searches at 17 places in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Khammam in Telangana.

"Principal Commissioner Income Tax S.K. Mittal, eight public servants and a Chennai-based chartered accountant along with his two sons have been booked under corruption charges," a CBI official said.

Apart from Mittal, the other public servants have been identified as Additional Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru) T.N. Prakash, Deputy Commissioner (Chennai) R.V. Arunprashad, Commissioner Income Tax (Mumbai) S. Pandian, Commissioner Income Tax (Mumbai) G. Lakshmivara Prashad, Commissioner Income Tax (Chennai) Vijay Lakshmi, Additional Director General (Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh) Vikram Gaur and two other officers S. Murli Mohan (Chennai) and Rajendra Kumar (Mumbai).

Chartered accountant Sanjay Bhandari and his two sons-- Shreyans Bhandari and Devyang Bhandari -- have also been named in the case.

"The government officials availed undue favours including stay at hotels, conveyance and flight travels at the expense of private persons," said an official.

Informed sources said that there was a trap case in January 20015 involving a Joint Commissioner Income Tax.

"The trap was followed by searches in which CBI got to know about the chartered accountant Sanjay Bhandari. Some hard disks and bank accounts details were also found showing a nexus of income tax official being operated by Sanjay Bhandari.

"Bhandari was allegedly getting favours and favourable orders passed by these income tax officials. He was working as a conduit for several IRS officials," an official said.

--IANS

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