The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against two Hyderabad-based Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials in a bribery case worth Rs 5 crore. According to reports in local media, the CBI officials were looking into irregularities and misconduct by GST officials following a tip-off.
According to CBI officials, ex-Deputy Commissioner of Service Tax Anti-Evasion in GST Department, Sudha Rani Chilaka, and Department Superintendent Sreenivasa Gandhi Bollineni, have demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore from directors of a company to settle a wrongful input tax credit case that they were probing.
It is alleged that the officials posted in Hyderabad had, on April 15, 2019, accepted Rs 10 lakh from the company, Infiniti Metal Products India Ltd, which was facing a probe in tax credit issue, they said.
CBI officials said that the accused allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore in the form of land and plots. An individual named J Satya Sridhar Reddy, who was then serving as the director of the company, and was also a director of Bharani Commodities Pvt Ltd, has also been booked in the case.
The agency said that Reddy was arrested by GST officials on March 6, 2019 and was released on March 29, 2019. CBI officials said that Satya Sridhar Reddy allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to the officials to prevent the arrest of his wife Raghavi Reddy but did not report the illicit transaction to the CBI or any other vigilance agency.
The CBI alleged that the accused GST officials have conspired by accepting bribes of Rs 10 lakhs and by demanding the remaining in the form of plots and land. The accused officials were investigating a case of fake invoice fraud to claim input tax credit around Rs 224 crores illegally, by companies related to Sridhar Reddy.
It was in October 2019, that CBI received information about the alleged misconduct of the officials in the GST's anti-evasion wing and based on an 11-month-long preliminary enquiry, the CBI has taken further action in the case.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had accorded permission to the CBI in March this year for proceeding against errant officials.
(With inputs from PTI)