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Hyderabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday, August 24, arrested a State Tax Officer and a Senior Assistant in Adilabad district’s Nirmal Circle for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 for issuing a favourable tax audit report.

Officials of the ACB’s Adilabad Range laid a trap based on a complaint by Lakkimsetty Veera Bhaskar Rao, 65, a businessman from Mancherial town, and caught State Tax Officer Koppela Gadavari and Senior Assistant Manthri Sai Krishna.

Both officials were attached to the Office of the Assistant Commissioner (State Tax), Nirmal Circle, Adilabad Division, the agency said in a statement.

Demand cut from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50,000

According to the ACB, the two officers had initially sought Rs 1 lakh as illegal gratification from the complainant for doing him an official favour relating to the audit of business records of Sri Laxmi Prasanna Jewellers for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. On the complainant’s repeated requests, the demand was brought down in stages, first to Rs 90,000, then Rs 80,000 and finally to Rs 50,000.

The favour sought was a favourable audit report that would have allowed the business to show a lower taxable turnover and GST liability, resulting in a corresponding loss of revenue to the government, the agency alleged.

Hands test positive

During the trap, Gadavari allegedly received the Rs 50,000 bribe from the complainant and passed it on to Sai Krishna. The amount was subsequently recovered from them. 

Chemical tests conducted on the hands of both accused turned positive, the ACB said, indicating contact with the tainted currency during the trap proceedings.

The ACB said both officers had demanded and accepted illegal gratification, misusing their official positions to obtain undue advantage. They have been taken into custody and will be produced before the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases. The agency said the case was under investigation, and the identity of the complainant was being withheld for security reasons.