I-T commissioner, Essar MD held for bribery

In a major swoop, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Pradeep Mittal, the managing director of Essar Group of Companies and B B Rajendra Prasad, a top official of the Income Tax department and four others in a sensational Rs 2 crore bribery case for getting a favourable order for a trust linked to the corporate group.

During the raids conducted in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, the CBI sleuths seized Rs 1.5 crore. The trust in question is Balaji Trust whose trustee is Essar Investments Limited, registered at Essar House, Mumbai.

The six suspects are:  B B Rajendra Prasad, an officer of the 1992 batch of the Indian Revenue Service currently posted as commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals-30), Mumbai, Suresh Kumar Jain, a real estate agent, Pradeep Mittal, MD of Essar Group of Companies, Vipin Bajpai, accounts officer in Essar Group, Shreyas Parikh, chartered accountant for M/s G.K.Choksi and Manish Jain, a relative of Suresh Jain.

While Prasad and Suresh Jain were arrested from Visakhapatnam, the rest four, including Mittal, were arrested from Mumbai. The four have been sent on a transit remand to Visakhapatnam for further investigations.

According to CBI officials, the IT official in Mumbai had recently passed an order in an appeal matter favouring the Balaji Trust, associated with the Essar Group.

“For giving this favourable order, the IT commissioner demanded a bribe amount of Rs.2 crore (approx) and wanted the money to be delivered to the relative of a real estate agent at Mumbai, who in turn after collecting the money transferred it to the said real estate agent in Visakhapatnam,” official said.
DH News Service

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