Income-tax officer gets five years rigorous imprisonment for bribery

A special CBI judge held an income-tax officer of Mumbai guilty Thursday of accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000 and sentenced him to five years rigorous imprisonment.

Leeladhar Bangera was caught red-handed by CBI on March 19, 2010, demanding and receiving bribe from Anil Mehra, owner of a construction company, to settle a matter of a notice for payment of a penalty of Rs 2 lakh imposed under Income-Tax Act. The penalty was imposed after the company failed to pay income-tax for 2001-02 and 2002-03.

CBI registered a case against Bangera in 2010 and booked him under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. It filed a charge sheet three months later on June 28, 2010.

Special judge for CBI cases J T Utpat accepted prosecution arguments and held the officer guilty.

Shrikant Dukhande, senior counsel appearing for CBI, said, "The prosecution relied on recorded conversations between the complainant and the accused. The accused is heard demanding and accepting bribe." (Indian Express)