New Delhi: A senior official of the central GST department has been arrested by the CBI in connection with an alleged bribery case, officials said on Friday.
Amit Dalal, a superintendent in the central GST Department, had fled from Mumbai after the arrest of two chartered accountants — Gopal Bhattar and Ramesh Pamar, they said.
The CBI had booked Dalal on the basis of a complaint from a businessman who had accused him of demanding a bribe of Rs 15 lakh for not enhancing his GST evasion/tax liability and for not arresting him in the same matter.
“It was further alleged that the said superintendent CGST had instructed a chartered accountant (Bhattar) to collect the bribe from the complainant on his behalf. During trap, an employee (Hemant Motivaras) of the chartered accountant was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs seven lakh from the complainant,” CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said.
Motivaras told the team that Pamar might also come to pay Rs five lakh to him which was meant for Dalal, the officials said.
Later, Pamar was also nabbed with Rs five lakh in cash, they said.
Dalal had asked Bhattar to collect the money as his frontman, according to the officials.
“The superintendent fled out of Mumbai to avoid investigation, but was apprehended from Delhi. Searches were conducted at six premises, including residential and office of the said accused persons at Mumbai and Delhi, which led to recovery of Rs 30 lakh (approx.) in cash and various incriminating documents/articles,” Joshi said.