Hyderabad: CBI case against two GST officials for demanding Rs 5 crore bribe

Two GST officials in Hyderabad have been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly demanding Rs 5 crore bribe to settle a case being investigated by them.

The officials -- Sudha Rani Chilaka, ex-deputy commissioner service tax anti-evasion in GST Department and Srinivasa Gandhi Bollineni, superintendent of the department based in Hyderabad accepted Rs 10 lakh bribe on April 15, 2019 from Infiniti Metal Products India Ltd which was facing an investigation in tax credit issue.

The CBI registered a case against them after 11 months of investigation in which they gathered information against the officials. The officials also sought permission from the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in March this year for proceeding against the GST officials.

The CBI said that another person J Satya Sridhar Reddy, the then director of the company, and was also a director of Bharani Commodities Pvt Ltd, has also been booked in the case. It also said that the officials accepted Rs 10 lakh bribe and also demanded remaining amount in the form of plots and land.

Besides bribe case, the GST superintendent Bollineni Gandhi and his wife were also charged in the disproportionate assets case to the tune of Rs 3 crore.