HYDERABAD: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has suspended two GST officials — Bollineni Srinivasa Gandhi and Chilaka Sudha Rani — in connection with Rs 5 crore bribery scandal.
Gandhi has been recently promoted from superintendent to assistant Commissioner on an ad hoc basis by CBIC of the ministry of finance. The CBI has registered an FIR against the accused but has not made any arrests.
Sudha Rani and Gandhi were connected with an investigation into a case against Infiniti Metal Products India Private Ltd and its group of companies for wrongful availing of input tax credit. The duo conspired with other officials of GST department and demanded Rs 5 crore bribe from the group. He had earlier worked in ED. In July 2019, the CBI had conducted searches on properties of Gandhi, who was then an ED investigating official in several high profile cases, and found Rs 3.7 crore worth disproportionate assets.
CBI’s second FIR was issued on September 11, 2019, based on a complaint by bribe giver Satya Sridhar Reddy Jagan, director of Bharani Commodities and Hyderabad Steels.
Sudha Rani, who was deputy commissioner of GST, and Gandhi in March 2019 had detected a fake invoice fraud where Rs 1,289 crore was raised and Rs 224 crore illegal input tax credit involving eight companies linked to Sridhar Reddy and others. CBI booked FIR under IPC sections of criminal conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Gandhi has been recently promoted from superintendent to assistant Commissioner on an ad hoc basis by CBIC of the ministry of finance. CBI has filed FIR against accused