TOI : ACB sleuths net I-T officer : Dec 15, 2006

ACB sleuths net I-T officer

Mumbai: The CBI’s anticorruption branch on Wednesday night arrested Pankaj
Garg, additional commissioner of income tax, Thane, after the agency found
Rs 24 lakh cash in his Powai house. Garg’s house was raided along with his
office in Naupada, Thane, on Wednesday. Minutes before that, Garg’s
inspector Anil Malel was trapped allegedly accepting bribe from an employee of an
electronic firm.

Malel had allegedly acccepted a bribe of Rs 2.75 lakh on behalf of Garg
and himself. He was also arrested.

CBI sources said the two officers had allegedly agreed to ‘settle’ an
assessment against the company. December 31 is the last date for finalising
assessment of tax returns filed two years ago.

The team which raided Garg’s Powai house found papers related to a house
in Punjabi Bagh area of Delhi. The price of the house on paper is Rs 29
lakh. But CBI sources said it was worth Rs 1.8 crore. Garg also owns a
Maruti Swift and a Zen. From Malel’s Thane house, the CBI seized Rs 3 lakh
in cash and an Alto.

The officials were produced before a magistrate in Thane and remanded to
CBI custody till December 18.

Shailesh Sadekar, counsel for Garg and Malel, contended that the
allegations levelled against them had no substance as they had no powers to
clear the assessment papers. Sadekar added that the assessment was finalised
on November 30 and, so, the complainant’s allegation was meaningless. TNN

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