PA to deputy commissioner of sales tax caught for taking bribe

KOTA: A sleuth of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Kota on Wednesday evening caught the personal assistant (PA) of deputy commissioner of sales tax department (appeals) and recovered bribe of Rs 11,000 at sale tax office in Kota. The role of the deputy commissioner is also suspected in the matter and investigation is underway.
Jitendra Parchwani (43), PA to deputy commissioner, is a resident of Vaishali Nagar area in Ajmer.He was caught red-handed by ACB team on Wednesday for accepting a bribe of Rs 11,000 from a trader in sale tax department office in Chatharpura area of Kota city, said Vivek Soni, inspector ACB, Kota.
The accused had demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 to exempt the penalty of Rs 3.50 lakh from the gross penalty and interest amount of Rs 5 lakh fined on the trading firm in Talera town of Bundi district, he said. The trading firm was fined in 2013 for mismatched penalty following which the firm appealed to deputy commissioner (appeals), sale tax department, the ACB inspector said. The accused during the hearing on the matter, demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 but following negotiation, the bribe amount was settled at Rs 15,000, he added.
The proprietor of the trading firm, Sumit Jain, reported the matter to ACB about two months ago following which verification of the complaint was carried out, ACB official Soni said.
The accused had accepted part of the bribe amount of Rs 4,000 at the time of verification on October 31 at his office in Ajmer as deputy commissioner (appeals) holds the office in Ajmer, he added.
The accused, along with the deputy commissioner was in Kota office on Wednesday for the hearing on sale tax penalty related matter. The PA called the trader at his office in the evening with the remaining bribe amount. The accused immediately after taking bribe went to deputy commissioner’s chamber, who was also present there and as came out, the ACB personnel who was already deployed there arrested him and recovered the bribe amount of Rs 11,000 from his pocket.
The role of the deputy commissioner is also suspected in the matter as in the telephonic conversations with the trader, the accused had demanded bribe on behalf of the deputy commissioner, inspector Soni said.