72-yr-old bizman yet to get bait money that nailed taxman in 2013

NEWDELHI :A 72-year-old Mumbai businessman paid ₹3.5 lakh as bait money on the CBI’s advice to entrap a senior taxman demanding bribes from him in December 2013. More than three years on, JP Vaghani said the central investigating agency has yet to return his hard-earned cash.

The corrupt official — income tax joint commissioner Sanjeev Ghei — was nailed, and the CBI kept the decoy cash in its custody as proof to show during trial.

Vaghani said on Wednesday that such cash is either destroyed or stored, and the government usually pays a refund to the owner within three months of an operation. “A person fighting corruption should not be harassed,” said the man who has helped expose several graft-tainted officials before.

Ghei had allegedly put the tax returns of Vaghani, owner of JP Electronics, under scrutiny by raising doubts on claims of business losses. The businessman said the official accused him of tax evasion, and approached him through a chartered account to demand a bribe of ₹10 lakh to “settle the case”.

Vaghani didn’t give in. He went to the CBI’s Mumbai office in Worli and alerted the officers about the demand.

A plot was hatched to trap the taxman and CBI officers made him talk to Ghei over the phone. The conversation was recorded. On Vaghani’s request, Ghei brought down the bribe amount to ₹3.5 lakh.

The businessman then withdrew money from his bank account and went to an assigned place to pay the bribe. CBI officers were already waiting and Ghei was caught red-handed.

The CBI took the corrupt official into custody as well as the decoy cash that rightfully belonged to Vaghani. The money was kept as evidence.

Ghei’s trial began long ago but Vaghani has yet to get back his money. “I had to go several times to the Thane sessions court, which is hearing the case. But hearings have been adjourned about seven times and no final order has come till today. The complainant is entitled to get the refund within three months,” the businessman said.

The bait cash is returned after the complainant writes to the court, requesting that the money be released. The court requires a clearance from the CBI, which can do so after filing a chargesheet in the case concerned.

Vaghani, who owns two showrooms in Mumbai, said the nature of his business attracts demands for bribe often and he has been part of at least nine entrapments so far. He alleged that the CBI delayed paying him the money for a similar case against a senior government official in 2006. The CBI has yet to respond to HT’s queries.