Arrested I-T officer was helping to settle Rs 10 cr tax: CBI

An arrested Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax allegedly demanded nearly Rs 6 lakh as bribe from businessman Vikas Singla to help him evade Rs 10 crore of tax, the Central Bureau of Investigation has claimed.

Sources said M Logapathy was arrested by the agency from his office after he allegedly received the last installment of Rs 1.5 lakh as bribe from Singla to help him dodge Rs 10 crore of tax demand raised against him. The agency which started a surveillance on taxmen from March when returns are filed in large numbers intercepted conversations of Logapathy and Hitesh Kumar, an advocate who acted as middleman in the deal. 

The sources said they got a fair bit of idea that the officer was allegedly demanding one per cent of the amount saved by an assessee. It was only after confirming that an installment would be delivered to his office on April 15, the team carried out a search and seizure operation at CR Building of ITO where Logapathy’s office is located.

The team disguised itself as assessees and staff of the I-T department to evade the security at the building and positioned themselves around the office.