CBI questions Mani Group CEO Sanjay Jhunjhunwala

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday questioned Mani Group CEO Sanjay Jhunjhunwala in connection with the bribery case in which Jharkhand's Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (I-T) Tapas Kumar Dutta was arrested.

Dutta was arrested following raids at 23 locations in Ranchi and Kolkata including at his Salt Lake residence. During the raid, the CBI officers had seized Rs 3.7 crore cash and 6.6 kg gold from Dutta's house. Allegations of taking bribe to transfer Income Tax (I-T) files of different companies from Kolkata or Hazaribagh to Ranchi "for providing undue favour" to these tax assesses who were charged with heavy tax liabilities in return for illegal gratification.

Jhunjhunwala was summoned on Saturday and he went to the office of the CBI at the CGO complex at Salt Lake at around 11.30 am.

Sources said that he was summoned to the CBI's office as the investigating officers wanted to get certain aspects of the case verified from Jhunjhunwala.

Dutta was brought to Kolkata on Friday morning and the officers had interrogated him to get more details about the transfer of files and the money that he had received for "giving undue advantage to tax assesses".

Names of some Kolkata based businessmen — Biswanath Agarwal, Santosh Chodhury, Aakash Agarwal and Vinod Agarwal — came up in this connection.

The CBI officers had interrogated Biswanath and Santosh on Friday evening and the interrogation had continued for long hours. The investigating agency wanted to know from both of them that from when Dutta was known to them. The CBI officers had recorded both of their statements.

Subsequently, the investigating agency decided to summon Jhunjhunwala. According to a CBI officer, they will be summoned again if needed. There are also possibilities of questioning Dutta in front of the businessmen as well.