The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested a state tax officer and a senior assistant in Nirmal district for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹50,000 in connection with a GST audit.
The accused were Koppela Gadavari, state tax officer, Nirmal Circle, and Manthri Sai Krishna, senior assistant in the office of the Assistant Commissioner (State Tax), Nirmal.
According to the ACB, the officers initially demanded ₹1 lakh from a 65-year-old businessman from Mancherial for doing an official favour in connection with the audit of the records of Sri Laxmi Prasanna Jewelers for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. Following repeated requests from the complainant, the demand was allegedly reduced to ₹80,000 and finally ₹50,000.
The ACB said the alleged favour involved issuing a favourable audit report that would facilitate the business showing a lower taxable turnover and GST liability, resulting in a corresponding loss of revenue to the Government.
During the trap laid by the Adilabad Range ACB officials on Monday, Gadavari received the ₹50,000 from the complainant and handed it over to Sai Krishna. The tainted cash was subsequently recovered.
The ACB said both officers had demanded and accepted illegal gratification by misusing their official positions to obtain undue advantage. The accused officers were arrested and are being produced before the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases concerned. The case is under investigation.
The ACB has withheld the complainant’s details for security reasons. The bureau appealed to the public to report demands for bribes by public servants on its toll-free number 1064.
