ACB traps two Nirmal tax officials accepting ₹50,000 bribe
Telangana : The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday trapped two State Tax department officials in Nirmal after they allegedly accepted a ₹50,000 bribe from a businessman in connection with an audit of jewellery business records.
The accused were Koppela Gadavari, State Tax Officer, Nirmal Circle, Adilabad Division, and Manthri Sai Krishna, Senior Assistant in the office of the Assistant Commissioner (State Tax), Nirmal Circle, Adilabad Division.
According to the ACB, the trap was laid on the basis of a complaint by a 65-year-old businessman from Mancherial.
Bribe demand allegedly reduced from ₹1 lakh to ₹50,000
The ACB said the officials initially demanded ₹1 lakh from the complainant for doing an official favour during the audit of Sri Laxmi Prasanna Jewellers for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Following repeated requests by the complainant, the demand was allegedly reduced to ₹90,000, then ₹80,000 and finally ₹50,000, the agency said.
The alleged favour involved issuing a favourable audit report on the business records. According to the ACB, this would have helped show a lower taxable turnover and GST liability, causing a corresponding loss of revenue to the government.
During the trap, Gadavari allegedly received ₹50,000 from the complainant and handed it over to Sai Krishna. The ACB subsequently recovered the tainted cash.
ACB says chemical tests confirmed contact with cash
The ACB said chemical tests conducted on the hands of both officials returned positive results, with the test solution turning pink. This indicated contact with the tainted currency, according to the agency.
The ACB said the two officials had demanded and accepted illegal gratification by misusing their official positions.
Both accused officials were taken into custody and arrested. They will be produced before the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases concerned, the agency said.
The case is under investigation. The ACB withheld the complainant’s details for security reasons.
The agency appealed to the public to report demands for bribes by public servants on its toll-free number 1064.
