Bribe syndicate woven by nuptial knot: Serving and retired IRS officers land in CBI net
25 Sept 2015 5:34 AM IST
There is nothing extra-ordinary about an officer and his father-in-law being from the same elite service; but when both get the tag of being corrupt, it is worth taking note. The Enforcement Directorate Joint Director, Jitendra Pratap Singh, who has been booked by the CBI for accepting bribe in the IPL betting scandal case, is son-in-law of 1978 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer SKS Somwanshi.
While Singh, a 2000-batch officer from the same service, has been booked by the CBI for accepting bribe in two cases, – Rs 2,000 crore IPL betting scandal and Rs 5,000 crore money laundering case against alleged hawala operator Afroz Fatta, his father-in-law was recently in news after an officer from the service alleged that Somwanshi had harassed for not acting “favourably” towards known tax evader and Uflex Chairman Ashok Chaturvedi.
It could not be mere coincidence that both Somwanshi and Singh had overlapping tenures in Madhya Pradesh. While Singh was in-charge of Gujarat and MP for the Enforcement Directorate, Somwanshi was Chief Commissioner for MP and Chattisgarh for Central Excise.
The CBI recently registered an FIR against Somwanshi on the complaint of a Madhya Pradesh based IRS officer alleging Rs 600 crore scam involving a Madhya Pradesh-based tobacco company and <g data-gr-id="26">a NOIDA-based</g> packaging company. In his complaint, the officer had alleged that his senior officers including then Chief Commissioner of the Central Excise Department, SKS Somwanshi (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) incurred a revenue loss of Rs 600 crore by giving undue favours to a Madhya Pradesh based Gutka (pouch tobacco) company – Kaipan, and NOIDA-based packaging company - Uflex.
The FIR filed by the CBI in the IPL betting scandal uncovered an interesting network which the serving tax man and his retired father-in-law wove to make crores of dirty money. It is alleged that Singh’s father-in-law SKS Somvanshi received Rs 15 crore from hawala dealers and tax consultants after Singh gave relief and extended favours to suspects in two cases probed by the Excise Department (ED). The action came on the basis of a complaint received from the directorate. The case has been registered under relevant provisions of criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against Singh and unknown officials of the ED.
Sources said that ED Director Karnal Singh received multiple complaints from various quarters about the alleged demand for bribe by the senior officials of its Ahmedabad unit, following which a consolidated complaint was forwarded to the CBI by the Ministry of Finance. Before registering the case, the CBI had put these suspects under technical and human surveillance during which prima facie material relating to alleged bribery scam was collected.
Besides carrying out searches at the residences of Singh and additional directors Sanjay Kumar and P S Srinivas, both ED cadre officers, in Ahmedabad, the CBI also raided Somvanshi’s residence in Delhi. A team was also sent to Surat to search Srinivas’s residence there. Singh was also investigating a case against the Adani group, referred to the ED by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), involving alleged overvaluation of <g data-gr-id="66">import</g> of equipment. The DRI had alleged that over Rs 2,000 crore had been siphoned off. Singh, who was earlier with Mumbai Customs, has spent five years with the ED as Joint Director in charge of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Sources said after the CBI files a charge sheet, the ED could register a case against its officer and attach his properties in due course.
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