The Anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday booked Dhirendra Kumar, the Superintendent of Anti-Eviction Wing of Central GST, and two others for absconding with bribe money worth Rs 25 lakh.
Dhirendra Kumar was based in Mumbai and took the bribe from a gold dealer who was in custody. The two other accused are Amrutlal Shankhala and Baban.
The CBI is searching for all three of the accused.
However, the CBI investigation, that started about 15 days ago, is being seen as a clash between GST and CBI officials.
The case pertains to an FIR lodged on April 20 by businessman Jitendra Lunawat on behalf of his close friend Arpit Jagetia, who was allegedly taken into custody for questioning by Central GST officials.
During the probe, Dhirendra Kumar allegedly demanded a bribe worth Rs 1 crore from Jagetia, while he was also harassed for about 6 to 7 hours in custody.
Jagetia deals in the sale and purchase of gold, and has a case against him in the Central GST, regarding irregularities in transactions between Shree Bullion and some other companies in the bullion market.
As alleged by the complainant, Dhirendra Kumar took Jagetia "forcefully" into custody from Sarafa Bazar in the Kalba Devi area on April 20. The FIR claimed that after over 6 to 7 hours of questioning, Dhirendra Kumar threatened to put Jagetia in prison and asked him to pay Rs 1 crore if he wanted to avoid jail.
According to Lunawat, Jagetia called him at around 8 pm on the same day and told him about the whole incident. Lunawat, in an attempt to help his friend, told the official that Rs 1 crore was too high and would be difficult to arrange so soon, and managed to get it down to Rs 25 lakhs after a long negotiation.
The entire call was recorded by Lunawat, which he later used as supporting evidence for his complaint.
Lunawat then reached the Central GST office in Churchgate with Rs 25 lakh in cash to free his friend on the same day, as was asked by Dhirendra Kumar.
However, a random bike rider snatched the bag of cash from Lunawat's hands before he entered the GST office and fled. This anonymous biker was later identified as Amrutlal Shankhala by the CBI based on the CCTV footage. When he was traced, he was found to have been absconding from his house since January 20.
Shankhala runs a jewelry shop in Antop Hill and was found to be a close aide of Dhirendra Kumar post investigation. One more person who worked at his shop, identified as Baban, had also gone absconding along with Dhirendra Kumar. The CBI is now trying to nab all three accused in the case.
The CBI officials, as part of their probe, also conducted searches at the houses of two GST officers who live in the same building as Dhirendra Kumar. One of them, Brijesh Singh, tried to escape the investigation by trying to flee his house when the CBI officials arrived there, and later stated that he ran to save himself from possible harassment by officials.
The investigation, which has been going on for about 15 days now, is being seen as a clash between the GST and the CBI officials.
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