MUMBAI: CBI has arrested two IRS officers – additional commissioner Deepak Kumar Sharma from Mumbai and joint commissioner Rahul Kumar from Guwahati – along with three CGST superintendents in a bribery case. The officials, arrested last week, are accused of detaining a businessman for 18 hours and accepting Rs 50 lakh bribe, reports Vijay V Singh. The two senior officers allegedly facilitated the deal and managed the bribe payment.
While most accused were placed in jail custody, Rahul Kumar was released on bail after a court deemed his arrest ‘illegal’ due to a procedural lapse. CBI had earlier arrested another superintendent along with a CA and a consultant in Sept while accepting a partial bribe payment in the case.
CBI conducted searches on all officers except Rahul Kumar, who was stationed in Guwahati. It collected mobile phones from the officers, including Deepak Kumar Sharma, which provided evidence of their involvement in the bribe case. The arrests were made after receiving necessary approval from relevant departments.
As per the complaint, CGST superintendent Sachin Gokulka and the other three GST superintendents — Nitin Kumar Gupta, Nikhil Agrawal and Bijender Janawa — had detained a Goregaon businessman for 18 hours on Sept 4 and threatened to arrest him if he failed to pay up Rs 60 lakh — reduced from the original demand of Rs 80 lakh — to settle a pharma company’s issue. Subsequently, Rahul Kumar, who earlier worked in the office, was contacted by a relative of the businessman and he coordinated with Deepak Kumar Sharma for release of the businessman in exchange for the bribe. Chartered accountant Raj Aggarwal was roped in to handle the bribe transactions on behalf of the officers.
The businessman was allegedly abused and slapped and coerced into calling a relative to arrange Rs 30 lakh, which was to be delivered to Aggarwal via hawala. On receiving the initial amount, the CGST officials released the businessman the following day, instructing him to arrange the remaining Rs 30 lakh by that evening, which he was asked to deliver to Aggarwal.
The businessman approached CBI after his release from the illegal detention and the agency laid a trap — the businessman met Aggarwal to hand over the remaining Rs 20 lakh and CBI arrested the CA red-handed. Aggrawal led the CBI team to Abhisekh Mehta, who told the officials that he was supposed to give the money to Gokulka. Under CBI’s supervision, Mehta contacted Gokulka, who requested a meeting near Oshiwara police station in the early hours.
At 2.30am on September 6, Gokulka arrived with two women in a vehicle. As Mehta entered Gokulka’s car with the money, the officer got suspicious (as a recording instrument was on him) and fled. Over a distance, Gokulka made Mehta leave with the cash before driving away. The CBI team captured Mehta and found Gokulka using phone tracking.