CBI arrests deputy commissioner of IT department, CA for 'sabotaging' faceless assessment scheme

New Delhi: The CBI arrested a deputy commissioner of the income-tax department and a chartered accountant on Friday for allegedly sabotaging the faceless scheme for I-T assessment, officials said.

Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Vijayendra, a 2015-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer posted at the department's Jhandewalan office in Delhi, was arrested here, while chartered accountant Dinesh Kumar Agarwal was arrested in Gujarat's Bharuch, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) probe into the matter has shown that the duo contacted various assesses of pending high-value I-T assessment cases, promising favourable orders in their cases under scrutiny in return for bribes.

The finance ministry introduced the faceless scheme to increase transparency, reduce human interface and prevent corruption.

The scheme is called "Faceless" simply because the assessee will not get to see the face of his or her assessing officer and know who will be conducting the assessments. This will reduce the interface, discretion and corruption.

"However, these accused persons have been clandestinely collecting and disseminating confidential insider information pertaining to this scheme like the name of the assessment officer, the issues under scrutiny etc., pertaining to pending big-ticket assessment/appeal cases, to the assesses and thereafter, collecting bribe amounts. The arrested accused are being produced before the jurisdictional court," a spokesperson of the federal agency said in a statement.

On February 6, the CBI conducted searches at 18 places, including in Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, West Champaran (Bihar), Bengaluru and Kottayam (Kerala), in connection with the case.

The agency had initiated a preliminary enquiry on a complaint from the income-tax department, which was later converted into an FIR after prima facie material showed the officials' complicity.