IT official gets 4 years in jail in bribe case

A special court here today convicted an Income Tax official for demanding a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a tax assessee in 2011 and sentenced him to four years rigorous imprisonment.

Daya Shankar, then Income Tax Commissioner (Appeal), was found guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act by special judge M G Deshpande. He was sentenced to four years in jail and also fined Rs 25,000, special public prosecutor Kavita Patil said.

According to the prosecution, the complainant, Haresh Bhawnani, had filed an appeal with Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal) against an assessment order for additional tax liability of Rs 1,41,41,546 for the year 2008-09.

The case was presented to Shankar who demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from the complainant to reduce the latter's tax liability to Rs 2.5 lakh.

The bribe amount was later reduced to Rs 2 lakh.

Bhawnani approached the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 23, 2011 which laid a trap and caught Shankar red-handed.