A team led by RR Solanki, police inspector with the Rajkot (rural) unit of the ACB, picked up income tax officer Maulesh Maheta from his residence on Sunday and formally detained him in connection with a case registered against the officer earlier in the day. (Representational)
Around a year after an income tax officer allegedly accepted Rs 15,000 bribe from a businessman, the former was detained by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from his residence in Rajkot on Sunday. The ACB action came after the anti-graft watchdog found substance in an application filed by the businessman and registered an offence against the officer.
A team led by RR Solanki, police inspector with the Rajkot (rural) unit of the ACB, picked up income tax officer Maulesh Maheta from his residence on Sunday and formally detained him in connection with a case registered against the officer earlier in the day.
“He was detained from his residence and has been sent for coronavirus testing. If he tests negative, we will arrest him in the case registered against him for taking Rs 15,000 bribe from a city-based businessman,” Himanshu Doshi, assistant director of Rajkot unit of the ACB, said.
The businessman gave an application to the ACB last year, stating Maheta demanded Rs 20,000 bribe from him on March 8, 2019, for solving a query the income tax department raised in the businessman’s income tax return for the financial year 2011-12.
ACB said that in response to the notice, the businessman met the income tax officer when Maheta demanded the bribe. After negotiations, Maheta agreed to resolve the matter against bribe of Rs 15,000 which the businessman paid on March 12, 2019.
“During both his meetings with the income tax officer, the applicant shot videos in his phone. As part of the inquiry, the video clips were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Gandhinagar and Rajkot and the laboratories concluded that the clips were not doctored. Also voice spectrography of both the income tax officer and the applicant proved that audio heard in the video clip were voices of the officer and the applicant. As the inquiry threw up substantial evidence, we registered a case,” Doshi added.
Mayurdhvajsinh Sarvaiya, police inspector of Rajkot city unit of the ACB, conducted the inquiry launched after the businessman gave an application to the agency.