CBI arrests senior IRS officer in Rs 25 lakh bribery case

New Delhi: The CBI has arrested a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, along with an associate, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from a pizza chain owner, officials said Sunday.

Amit Kumar Singal, additional director general posted at the Directorate of Taxpayer Services here, allegedly demanded a total bribe of Rs 45 lakh to settle an income tax notice issued to Sanam Kapoor, owner of La Pino’z Pizza, they said.

The first instalment of Rs 25 lakh was delivered to Singal’s residence in Mohali, Punjab on Saturday, where a businessman named Harsh Kotak allegedly received the money on the officer’s behalf.

Acting on Kapoor’s complaint,” a CBI team raided the premises and arrested Kotak. Another team of the central agency arrested Singal, a 2007-batch IRS officer, from his residence in Delhi the same day.

The two were produced before a special magistrate in Chandigarh, who remanded them to judicial custody till June 13, according to Kapoor’s lawyer Gagandeep Jammu.

Kapoor had entered into a franchise agreement in 2017 with Kotak, who had allegedly partnered with Singal’s mother in the venture, the lawyer claimed.

Following a business fallout, Kapoor was allegedly coerced to buy back the stake at six times its value, Jammu said.

The lawyer added that after the fallout, Kapoor received notices from the tax and food safety departments.

Singal then allegedly demanded Rs 45 lakh from Kapoor to settle the tax matter, prompting the pizza chain owner to approach the CBI, Jammu said. Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and arrested Kotak while he was allegedly accepting the bribe on Singal’s behalf at the officer’s Mohali residence, the officials said.

“The demand for the bribe was accompanied by threats of legal action, imposition of heavy penalties and harassment in case of non-compliance,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

Singal was arrested from his residence in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.

The CBI conducted searches at multiple locations across Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai in connection with the case.