I-T officer, aides caught red-handed by CBI while accepting bribe

Bengaluru, May 16: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that Abhishek Tripathi, an Income Tax officer from Belagavi, and his aides were caught red-handed by the investigating officer of its anti-corruption bureau.

The complainant, Dr Prashanth, director of Aditi Scanning and Diagnostic Centre in Vijayapura, had informed the CBI about how Tripathi had demanded an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh to waive of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) of Rs 46,000 and criminal proceedings against him. 

The CBI, in its statement of objection to the bail petition of Tripathi before the High Court, has said that Jadhav received a call from Alok Tiwari, another aide of Tripathi.

The telephone conversations were played before the investigating officer and witnesses established the nexus between Tripathi, Tiwari in demanding and negotiating bribe with the complainant.

The accused was repeatedly contacting and creating fear in the mind of the complainant of initiating proceedings under Income Tax Act and negotiating with the complainant for bribe.

The CBI has said that during the scrutiny of documents seized from the residential premises of Abhishek Tripathi, it was revealed that huge amounts of money was transferred from his and his wife Shivi Dixit's bank accounts to various accounts on a single day by making deposit of less than Rs 50,000. Further, suspicious remittances to Tripathi's account and his wife from unknown persons have come to light.

It has said that the accused have misused their bonafide official powers in a wrongful manner of committing illegal act and committed offence, which are serious in nature and damaged the image of the government service in public eye.

The accused if enlarged on bail, may tamper with the evidence by threatening the witnesses and destroying the documents. Hence, their bail petition must be dismissed, in the interest of justice, the CBI has stated.