CBI books former income tax additional commissioner Santosh Karnani in fresh bribery case

The CBI has registered a fresh corruption case against former income tax additional commissioner Santosh Karnani for allegedly sharing confidential information with a builder to help him win a case in the I-T Appellate Tribunal in return for land at a heavily discounted price, officials said Thursday.

The CBI got information about the alleged corruption from the forensic examination of Ahmedabad-based Karnani's two phones that he had allegedly given to his colleague and co-accused Vivek Johri for disposing them of before managing to flee during an Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau's trap operation, according to an FIR.

Johri, who was posted in Ahmedabad, was arrested in a Rs 30-lakh bribery case in which Karnani was the prime accused, they said.

"It was alleged that when a team of ACB, Gujarat reached the office of said Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, he escaped from his office by creating a ruckus during trap proceedings," the CBI Spokesperson had said.

When the CBI took over the case from the ACB on October 12, 2022, it deployed cutting-edge sonar technology to recover the two mobile phones from the depths of the Sabarmati river after nearly six months of painstaking efforts, agency officials said.

The forensic analysis of the phones revealed the nexus that Karnani shared with individuals and private firms known to him or connected with his family members, the FIR alleged.

The CBI found several WhatsApp exchanges between Karnani and Director of Shree Kanhai Realty Pvt Ltd Ilesh Kumar Shah that showed the realtor was discussing a deal of a 2428-square metre land in the name of the officer's wife, Arti Karnani, it said.

"From the scrutiny of WhatsApp chats, it has transpired that a non-agricultural land... 2428 square metre has been acquired in the name of Arti Karnani by accused Santosh Karnani for sale consideration of Rs 40 lakh...whereas the market value of the plot, according to one of the directors of Kanhai Realty Pvt Ltd is Rs 3.5 crore," the FIR alleged.

The phone date showed that Shah had shared one of the notices issued by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The notice was time-barred by five days.

The CBI alleged that Shah had asked Karnani to speak to his lawyer ahead of the ITAT hearing, to which Karnani had replied, 'spoken'.

The agency said Karnani allegedly misused his official position by way of advising against the Income Tax department and helped Shah to get a favourable order from the ITAT.

"Accused Santosh Karnani not only advised Illesh Shah personally, but he also interacted with the advocate and briefed him apparently about the shortcomings in the case, resulting in the Income Tax Department losing the case in ITAT," the FIR alleged.

It alleged that Shah transferred land of 2428 square metres valued at Rs 3.50 crore to Arti Karnani at Rs 40 lakh.

The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Karnani in the case of alleged bribery of Rs 30 lakh.