Case against state tax assistant commissioner, others for seeking Rs 1 cr bribe

Mumbai: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an offence against an assistant commissioner of state tax and some other officers of the Maharashtra GST department for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 1 crore from a company’s director to settle a pending tax matter, an official.

The offence under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered by the ACB Mumbai unit against Arjun Suryawanshi, assistant commissioner of state tax (investigation branch), and other officers on February 2, the official said on Monday.

Section 7 of the anti-corruption Act deals with an offence relating to 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 official 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.

The bribe demand was confirmed (though no money exchanged hands) during investigation after which the FIR was registered, he said, adding further probe was underway.