CBI registers fresh cases against Principal Commissioner I-T

The CBI has registered four fresh cases against Principal Commissioner Income Tax Tapas Kumar Dutta, who is now under suspension, in connection with alleged favours granted by him to businessmen, officials said today.

Dutta was arrested by the CBI last year in a case of alleged bribery for giving tax relief to several businessmen who were slapped with severe tax liabilities by the Income Tax department.

The CBI had said Dutta, who was Ranchi's Principal Commissioner Income Tax, allegedly entered in to a criminal conspiracy with the officials of his department, businessmen, a chartered accountant and several entry operators.

The alleged conspiracy was to get income tax assessment files of different assessee companies transferred from Kolkata and Hazaribagh to Ranchi, where Dutta was posted, for providing undue favour to the assesses, charged with heavy tax liability, in return for a huge bribe, the officials said.

In pursuance of the conspiracy with unknown controllers and operators of these assessee companies, businessmen Biswanath Agarwal and Santosh Chowdhary arranged addresses so that the business operation and place of keeping their account books can be shown to have been shifted to Ranchi.

After arranging the addresses, the accused persons got the PANs and assessment files transferred from their respective ITO wards of Kolkata to Ranchi by filing applications through respective directors of assessee companies.

When PANs were transferred, the businessmen filed petitions before Dutta, who allegedly abused his official position and set aside assessment orders passed by ITOs of Kolkata, in lieu of illegal gratification through Agarwal and Chowdhary.

Expanding the probe, the CBI has registered four fresh cases against the officer, Agarwal and Chowdhary and various income tax officers, the officials said.

Dutta allegedly helped Agarwal and Chowdhary in getting the PANs migrated from Kolkata and asked his junior officers to reassess files in favour of the assessee for which the cartel paid a huge bribe, officials said.

During the probe, the agency had found a number of companies whose undeclared wealth was detected by income tax officials, they said.