The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted a successful trap on Thursday, arresting two Nandurbar Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000.
Both the accused are class 2 officials attached to the GST office in Nandurbar. They had demanded Rs 1 lakh from the complainant to settle the irregularities in his GST payments.
An ACB official, while talking to TOI, said the complainant, who has a business of steel and cement in Nandurbar, has been regularly paying his GST. “However, he received two notices from the Nandurbar GST office flagging discrepancies during the verification of his filings,” the official said.
“Though the trader responded to the notices through his Chartered Accountant (CA), he was subsequently issued show-cause notices for failing to file annual GST returns for the financial years of 2022–23 and 2023–24. In order to resolve these pending notices and assist with the unfiled annual returns, one of the officers had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh. After the demand, the trader contacted the Nashik ACB office to report the demand for a bribe,” the official added.
ACB officials arrested the duo while accepting a Rs 50,000 bribe at a hotel on the Surat-Dhule highway after laying a trap. The trader had negotiated the amount down to Rs 50,000.
The Navapur police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Inspector Yogesh Shinde, who led the trap, said that the officials concerned have been handed over to the Nandurbar unit of the ACB.
“They were produced in court and have been remanded in custody till Oct 12,” Shinde said.
Source from: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/2-gst-officials-held-in-rs50k-bribery-case-in-nandurbar/articleshowprint/134840116.cms
