IT dept official, wife get jail term in cheating case

A senior Income Tax department official was today sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment by the CBI court here in a cheating case.
Additional Special Judge for CBI cases V Sofanadevi awarded two years rigorous imprisonment to Mathivanan and one year RI to his wife G Surekha. A fine of Rs 68,000 was also imposed on them, a CBI release said.
Mathivanan, who earlier served in the office of Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Vellore, as Senior Tax Assistant, had prepared false details of tax payers and got cleared tax refunds in their name.
He operated various bank accounts and encashed the refund orders, causing a loss of Rs 11.96 lakh to the exchequer.

Investigations showed that Mathivanan also amassed wealth amounting Rs 20.23 lakh in the name of his wife, which is "disproportionate" to known sources of their income, the release said.