A special CBI court in Jodhpur has sentenced four years imprisonment to former chief commissioner Income Tax Pawan Kumar Sharma and former ITO Shailendra Bhandari in a bribery case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.10 lakh each on both of them. However, a jeweller who played role of middleman was acquitted.
Judge Bhupendra Sanadhya of the special CBI court in Jodhpur pronounced the verdict on Friday. Pawan Kumar Sharma is a 1981 batch IRS officer.
What is the case?
The case dates back to March 31, 2015, when Pawan Kumar Sharma, Shailendra Bhandari and the middleman-jeweller Chandra Prakash Katta were arrested following a complaint by a Barmer businessman.
According to CBI, Kishore Jain, a had filed a complaint with the CBI stating that the income tax department had enhanced his tax liability from the original Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 12 crore.
When Jain approached tax officials to resolve the case, they (department officials) had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to settle the matter. Later, after negotiations, Rs 23 lakh was decided.
Jain then decided to lodge complaint with CBI, which planned the trap. On March 31, 2015, Shailendra Bhandari was caught red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh at the showroom of jeweller Chandra Prakash Katta, who acted as middleman.
CBI after interrogating the two arrested Pawan Kumar Sharma also when they disclosed that the amount was being taken on behalf of Sharma, who was serving as chief commisioner Income Tax.
CBI seized properties worth Rs 400 crore, designer fans, gold spoons, silver cups
During investigation, CBI found that Sharma had allegedly amassed assets totalling Rs 400 crore in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer and Bengaluru. The agency conducted raids on 8 different properties of Sharma.
Apart from that, CBI also discovered designer fans worth Rs 18,000 each installed in every room of his bungalows. He was also found to be fond of drinking tea in silver cups and using gold spoons. Besides, 50 bottles of expensive foreign liquor were also recovered from his house.
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