HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against two Hyderabad Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) officials for demanding a bribe of Rs 5 crore from a private company. The two accused officers have been identified as Deputy Commissioner (Anti-Evasion) Sudha Rani Chilaka and Superintendent Bollineni Sreenivas Gandhi. The accused CGST officers were investigating the wrongful availment of input tax credit by Infiniti Metal Products India Limited and its group of companies.
In exchange for favours, Chilaka and Gandhi demanded Rs 5 crore as bribe from the company. The officers had received Rs 10 lakh of the bribe amount as advance and demanded the remaining in the form of open plots or land. The CBI has also booked JS Sridhar Reddy, the director of Bharani Commodities Private Limited and Hindustan Ispat Private Limited, based on a complaint by GST officials.
He was arrested last year too, by the CGST officials for paying the bribe of Rs 10 lakh, according to the CBI. He had paid the amount to stop the arrest of his wife J Raghavi Reddy, but failed to report the matter to the investigating agency. Sridhar Reddy was later released from jail.