ACB books state tax assistant commissioner, others for seeking Rs 1 cr bribe

The Anti-Corruption Bureau registered the case under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Actagainst Arjun Suryawanshi, the assistant commissioner of state tax (investigation branch), and other officers on February 2, newswire PTI reported on Tuesday.

Section 7 of the act deals with an offence related to a public servant being bribed.

The FIR was registered after a letter was written by the special commissioner of state tax and chief vigilance officer to Maharashtra director general of police (ACB) seeking an investigation into the alleged corruption by officers of the investigation branch of the state tax, the officials said.

During the probe, it came to light that Suryawanshi and his team conducted raids between July 5 and August 7 last year on a firm, which had an outstanding tax of more than Rs 20 crore, said the official.

Despite several reminders, the firm`s director did not pay the pending tax, following which the GST department officials visited his office and residence also, he said.

On August 21, Suryawanshi allegedly sent a WhatsApp message demanding Rs 1 crore from the firm`s director to settle the tax matter, said the official.