Arrested I- T officer is worth ` 400 crores
Pawan Kumar Sharma allegedly demanded 23 lakh bribe from a businessman to reduce his tax liability Preliminary probe revealed that Pawan Kumar Sharma has many properties, including bungalows and farm houses in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bengaluru; each o
The IAS couple of Madhya Pradesh who reportedly amassed ` 300 crore wealth can take a bow to Pawan Kumar Sharma, chief income- tax commissioner in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Trapped by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) for allegedly demanding ` 23 lakh bribe from a businessman to reduce his tax liability, Sharma has reportedly created disproportionate wealth of ` 400 crore. Preliminary investigations revealed that he has a number of properties, including bungalows and farm houses in Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bengaluru; each one of them reportedly worth ` 50 crore. During the raid on his house, the CBI team found 50 bottles of expensive imported alcohol and expensive furniture.
Sharma, a 1981 batch IRS officer, who became chief income- tax commissioner in November 2014, has been accused by the CBI of taking ` 23 lakh bribe from a businessman in Barmer. The first instalment of ` 15 lakh of the total bribe was accepted by I- T officer Shailendra Bhandari on Sharma’s behalf when the CBI sleuths arrested him red- handed at the showroom of a jeweller Chandra Prakash Katta, who was said to be acting as a mediator.
Two other senior officials, joint commissioner Jai Singh and commissioner O. P. Meena were also booked in the same case. All of them were sent to three days police custody. Although, Sharma denied charges against him in the court and confronted ITO Bhandari’s allegation that the money was accepted on behalf of Sharma. “I don’t even know him. He is lying,” Sharma reportedly told the court.
According to CBI sources, Kishore Jain, a businessman of Barmer had complained to the CBI after he was being put under pressure to pay a huge sum to settle a tax matter. The tax liability was allegedly raised from ` 2.5 crore to ` 12 crore and to reduce it ` 23 lakh bribe was asked from Jain.