A deputy commissioner of state taxes and three of his associates were caught red-handed by sleuths of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Friday while accepting bribe of Rs 1 lakh. The accused had allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh bribe from a yarn businessman to reactivate blocked GST number of his partnership firm.
ACB arrested Narsinh Pandore, deputy commissioner, state GST, Kishore Patel, lawyer and tax consultant, Dharmesh Goswami and Vinay Patel, both employees of Patel’s firm. Sleuths arrested Goswami and Vinay from Kishore’s office at Wood Square building on L P Savani Road. Soon after the bribe money was paid, ACB caught Pandore from his office in Nanpura. The trap was laid by S N Desai and ACB inspector, A K Chauhan.
The complainant’s firm did not pay GST for the year 2015-16 due to which his GST number was blocked. The complainant met Pandore to reactivate the number for which the accused demanded Rs 2 lakh and instructed him to meet Kishore.
The complainant paid Rs 50,000 initially. Later he requested to reduce the bribe amount and the accused agreed to accept Rs 1 lakh. The complainant then contacted ACB.
After receiving Rs 1 lakh from the complainant Kishore called Pandore from his phone and informed him that the money had been paid. The complainant too talked with Pandore from Kishore’s phone and confirmed payment.