HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials have registered a case against the Superintendent of Central Excise and Service Tax, Karimnagar division, S Chandrasekhar, for demanding a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a businessman.
The CBI officials stated that Dudem Narender, director of Somasekhara Chit Funds Private Limited, lodged a complaint with them alleging that he recently received a call from GST superintendents Chandrasekhar and Rafiquddin, after which two others approached his office introducing themselves as GST officers from Karimnagar. The two GST officers claimed that they have received a plaint against the company regarding evasion of tax and asked Dudem Narender to appear before them on June 18.
On June 18, the complainant went to the GST office in Karimnagar and met Chandrasekhar. The complainant was served a notice asking him to submit his firm’s balance sheet, service tax registration certificate and related documents from 2016 to August 20, 2019. Later, the complainant submitted documents to Chandrasekhar. After verification of the documents, Chandrasekhar recorded Dudem Narender’s statement as well.
“The accused officer threatened the complainant that he would book a case for evasion of `90,000 from a customer during January 19, 2016 to January 31, 2017. The accused officer demanded `10 lakh from the businessman for closing the case against the complainant’s firm. However, Dudem Narender denied to pay the bribe. The accused officer again demanded bribe from the complainant on August 14,” CBI officials said.
GST officer Rafiquddin also phoned the complainant and verified whether the complainant was coming to their office. The same day, the complainant visited the GST office in Karimnagar and met Chandrasekhar. The accused officer further lowered the bribe money and in the end demanded `50,000 for not registering cases against the businessman.
The sleuths have also learnt that the accused officer made a phone call to the complainant regarding the same. Based on the complaint, the CBI officials registered cases and carried out raids at the office and residences of the accused persons.