CBI on Friday arrested commissioner, Central Excise and Customs of Kolkata A M Sahay for allegedly accepting bribe of over Rs one crore through hawala channel.
Besides Sahay, the CBI also arrested Prateek Bhalotia, R Bhalotia, Sandeep and Jasraj in an operation which was carried out in Kolkata and Mumbai, sources said.
Involvement of a woman friend of the Commissioner was also being probed. After receiving a tip-off, the CBI started monitoring all relevant leads in this case and found that Rs 1.10 crore was being exchanged allegedly as bribe for clearing a Mumbai-based company in an excise case. In what would remind of a Bollywood movie plot, the number of a currency note of Rs 10 was the code between the hawala operator and the person who was to take the money.
The Commissioner had allegedly also asked the company to give consultancy job to a woman friend and to hike her salary by lakhs of rupees every month to account for the bribe money. The CBI conducted searches and allegedly recovered another Rs 60 lakh from Kolkata, the sources said .
CBDT clarifies rules on partners
The income credited to the account of a partner in a partnership firm is not taxable in the hands of partners as a firm’s income is to be taxed only at the firm’s level. This is true even if the firm has availed of exemptions or deductions under the law and thus has no tax liability, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) clarified on Friday.