Income Tax officer sentenced to seven years jail by CBI court over bribery charges
A special CBI court in Dehradun on Wednesday has sentenced an Income Tax officer to seven years of imprisonment for demanding bribe of Rs 50000 from a trader for settling his income tax matter.
The special court convicted Dinesh Kumar, the then Income Tax officer of Pithoragarh, under section 7 and 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and imposed a financial penalty of Rs 1.5 lakh on him as well.
According to public prosecutor, Pankaj Gupta, “CBI registered case against Dinesh Kumar on December 29, 2009 on the complaint of a trader. CBI team caught him red handed while accepting a bribe from the complainant in the presence of independent witnesses.”
Jeevan Chandra Punetha, a Champawat based cloth trader contacted CBI in December 2009 alleging that Dinesh Kumar, who was posted as Income Tax officer in Pithoragarh during that time, demanded a bribe of Rs 50000 from him for final settlement of an income tax matter. After finding truth in the complaint, CBI registered a case and caught Dinesh Kumar red handed after laying a trap.
Incidentally, the complainant also recorded the conversation held between him and Income Tax officer at the time of bribe transaction. The recording of the conversation was also used by the CBI as evidence against Dinesh Kumar.
