Senior IRS officer held for taking bribe
THE ARRESTED OFFICER, ASHOK NAYAK, WHO IS A SENIOR INDIAN REVENUE SERVICE (IRS) OFFICER, HAS EARLIER SERVED IN SEVERAL PRIME POSTS
The anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the assistant commissioner of the central excise department with one more person in Mumbai for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹1.25 crore.
The arrested officer, Ashok Nayak, who is a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, has earlier served in several prime posts in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs. Nayak was currently holding the office of assistant commissioner of service tax, LTU Audit in Mumbai.
According to a CBI official, the complainant, owner of a Navi Mumbai hotel, said he had received a notice in 2016 from ED and was facing an inquiry. He alleged that in April 2017, a person claiming be an ED official called him and asked him to meet Nayak, failing which he would be arrested.
The case relates to a 2013 incident in which Mumbai police had raided the hotel and rescued 90 girls from the premises including 23 minors. Cash and jewellery was recovered from the hotel.
“The complainant was allegedly asked to meet the assistant commissioner. It was alleged that when the complainant met him, the latter demanded a bribe of ₹15 crore (approx) to sort out their matter pending in ED and told them to arrange 25-30% amount of the bribe within twodays as first installment, failing which he would be arrested,” RK Gaur, CBI spokesperson said.
“During course of investigation the accused informed CBI that he was to deliver that amount to another person. The CBI set up another trap and arrested one Dhananjay Shetty for accepting the tainted money,” another CBI official told HT.
The CBI on Monday arrested the chairman of a jewellery house who had fled India after allegedly cheating a consortium of 25 banks to the tune of ₹2,672 crore.
The consortium was led by SBI and included 20 nationalised banks, officials said.
Nillesh Parekh, chairman and promoter of Kolkata-based Shri Ganesh jewellery house, was arrested at Mumbai airport on his return from Dubai.
“It was alleged that the accused had defrauded the banks through diversion of funds, fraudulent exports to shell companies floated in Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE and other places with the help of employees and associates,” said CBI spokesperson RK Gaur.
Officials told HT that Parekh allegedly shipped stocks offered as primary security to its foreign subsidiaries without the knowledge of the lenders and also falsely projected huge losses to the banks purportedly suffered through a bogus trades for which the banks did not finance.