Date:27/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/27/stories/2006052723540300.htm

New Delhi

I-T official demands bribe; escapes CBI trap

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A Deputy Director of the Income Tax Department who had allegedly demanded and accepted bribe from a pharmaceutical firm owner managed to escape from a trap laid by the Central Bureau of Investigation at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. Two of his accomplices have been arrested.

According to the CBI, the complainant, who had a factory in Okhla, was being pestered by Deputy Director (Investigation) Satish Kumar, posted in Meerut, to pay Rs. 50 lakhs as bribe or else face the consequences. The complainant, under duress, agreed to pay Rs. 10 lakhs as the first instalment, the CBI said. Satish allegedly asked the complainant to pay the first instalment on Thursday, but the complainant could manage only Rs. 8 lakhs. As per plan, the CBI team had laid a trap on the Noida-Meerut highway. The accused appeared on the scene to collect the money in a Mahindra Scorpio. One person got down from the vehicle and accepted the bribe amount. However, sensing the presence of the CBI team, he threw the money and got back into the vehicle. He then fled towards Delhi.

The CBI team gave the vehicle a chase. They managed to track down the vehicle near Delhi border. But the officer was not present in the vehicle. His wife, two accomplices, driver Iqbal Ali and another person Amar Singh Kain, were present in the vehicle. The two men have been arrested.