Officials of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Wayanad, arrested a Commercial Tax Officer (CTO) and a middleman who helped the officer take bribe, allegedly at the Commercial Tax Office at Sulthan Bathery in the district, on Wednesday evening.
The arrested were identified as Saji Jacob, CTO, Commercial Tax Office, Sulthan Bathery, and Brijith Joseph, a tax practitioner at Sulthan Bathery, who is reportedly the middleman.
Rs.1 lakh demanded
The VACB officials said that K.P. Murukesan, owner of Asian Agencies, a borewell accessories seller at Sulthan Bathery, was being troubled by Saji Jacob through Brijith for many months.
Saji Jacob told Murukesan that there were some errors in Mr. Murukesan’s tax records and demanded Rs.1 lakh if he wanted to get them corrected. But, the former did not issue any notice to the latter. When he expressed his inability to pay up after handing over Rs.10,000 to the CTO on December 29 last, the CTO asked him to pay the amount in instalments.
He also asked Mr. Murukesan to bring Rs.25,000 as second instalment to his office on Wednesday along with Brijith.
Meanwhile, Mr. Murukesan lodged a complaint with the VACB at Meenangadi, and the officials set a trap to nab the CTO.
A special team led by DYSP K.K. Markose caught the CTO red-handed while receiving the cash. The team also seized the cash.
The accused were produced before the Vigilance court in Thrissur on Thursday.
