CBI searched the premises of the three accused and recovered an additional Rs 43 lakh in cash and jewellery worth around Rs 90 lakh
Mumbai: CBI on Thursday arrested IRS officer Vinay Kumar Kantheti, additional commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) in Raigad, a CGST superintendent and a private person who allegedly accepted a Rs 40 lakh bribe from a businessman to settle a GST and royalty matter. The officials had initially demanded Rs 1.5 crore, which CBI verified before registering a case. The demand was subsequently reduced to Rs 40 lakh.
Vinay Kumar Kantheti, CBI confirmed he too was involved in the case.
CBI officials said that they will challenge the bail order and stated that they had strong evidence against the three for their involvement in demandingand accepting the bribe. CBI sources said that their team first caught and arrested private individual Narinder Rajput red-handed while accepting a bribe. CBI had sought five days’ police custody, alleging a systematic act of corruption. The defence lawyers Rahul Agrawal, Jasmin Puraniand Harsh Shah, however, challenged the legality of the arrest on the grounds that CBI did not comply with the mandatory requirement of communicating the grounds and reasons for arrest. Most recoveries were made from superintendent Rakesh Kumar Sinha’s premises. After questioning him and examining details he provided, CBI team arrested the two officers. Subsequently, the CBI team arrested Kantheti and Sinha from their offices. The court also found no satisfactory justification for further custodial interrogation, particularly since the alleged bribe money had already been seized and mobile phones had been recovered from the accused. The CBI’s remand application was accordingly rejected.
On Friday, when they were produced in Special Court at Thane, the judge rejected CBI’s prayer for custodial interrogation and released them on bail, holding that the arrest was illegal.