The CBI on Saturday registered a case against former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava along with others, on charges of cheating, forgery and undue advantages during his tenure as Commissioner of IT (Appeals) in Noida. Searches were carried out by the agency at his residence and office. The search operation, which started on Friday morning and continued till Saturday, took place at 13 locations in Delhi, Noida, Muradnagar and Ghaziabad, including at Srivastava''s Pandara road residence and Noida office. Srivastava was among several Income Tax officers who were asked to retire by the Government recently.
The CBI has claimed to have recovered from Srivastava''s residence jewellery worth Rs 2.47 crore, Rs 16.44 lakh in cash, watches approximately valued at Rs 10 lakh, over Rs 1.30 crore of bank deposits in the name of the former officer as well as his family members, incriminating documents related to two immovable assets and a bank locker.
According to CBI, the case has been registered under section 120 B, 420, 468 of Indian Penal Code and 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act. The sacked IT Commissioner Srivastava, along with some others, appeared at the CBI Headquarters on Saturday.
According to CBI, searches have been conducted at the residence and office of Srivastava which led to recovery of incriminating documents, articles and electronic evidence. "Searches have also been carried out at the premises of certain other private persons," the CBI said in a press statement.
Sources said the charges against Srivastava were that when he was designated as the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal 1 and Appeal 2), he allegedly decided about 104 Income Tax appeals and uploaded the orders in June, 2019 by backdating them to December, 2018. 13 of the appeals were not even in his jurisdiction, they said.
The orders were uploaded on Income Tax Business Application (ITBA) system through RSA token between June 11 and June 13. It was further alleged that the dispatch records of the office were also manipulated to allude towards dispatch of the orders on June 7, 2019, whereas they were actually dispatched on June 14, 2019.
In the dispatch records, He was dismissed on June 10. Srivastava had hired a private individual to type and upload orders, sources said. Srivastava's wife runs a boutique in Vasant Kunj, Delhi and searches were conducted there as well.
CBI said residence of Amar Das whose services were used by the officer to write orders, two Chartered Accountants Anil Prahlad Kumar and K P Garg in Ghaziabad and Nehru Place, Delhi, respectively also raided.