The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Friday, arrested an income tax commissioner while taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. CBI said that a 1988 batch India Revenue Services (IRS) officer Swetabh Suman was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh.

Along with Suman, his junior Pratap Das, an income tax officer, a middleman Pranjol Sharma, and another man Ramesh Goenka was arrested by the CBI.

Suman, who was posted as the Commissioner of Income Tax (Audit), Guwahati with an additional charge of Jorhat, was accused of demanding Rs 50 lakh from a businessman Suresh Agarwala. Suman demanded a bribe from Agarwala, the Director of Win Power Infra Pvt Ltd. in Jorhat, who also happens to have offices at Guwahati and Delhi, to show undue favour to him by passing a favourable order in an appeal arising out of assessment done in respect of one of his shell companies.

The CBI claims, after receiving source-based information, that the arrests were made when Rs 40 lakh out of the decided amount was being paid.

This not Suman's first encounter with the CBI. In 2005, CBI had booked Suman under the Prevention of Corruption Act for Disproportionate Assets (DA), worth Rs 55 lakh, more than his known sources of income.

CBI alleged in the DA case in 2005 that Swetabh Suman, during his postings at various places, was leading a luxurious life and had assets which prima facie appeared to be disproportionate to his known sources of income. CBI said that he purchased a plot at Rajpur Road measuring 752.50 square meters in the name of his mother in 2001 and thereafter constructed a house there. He also purchased a few acres of agriculture land in Dehradun in the name of different persons.

Suman is a repeat offender. In the DA case, a CBI judge hearing the matter claimed that in 2015, Suman tried to influence him by offering a bribe through a third party to get a decision in his favour.
#casansaar (Source - TOI)