Commercial Tax official, clerk held for taking Rs 9L bribe

COIMBATORE: An Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Office in Tirupur and a clerk have been arrested by DVAC sleuths on Friday for demanding and receiving a bribe of Rs 9 lakh to issue a clearance certificate to a firm.

The complainant and his wife were running a company to supply spare materials related to bore wells to Kerala. For that, the complainant was supposed to pay two per cent tax by submitting the ‘C’ form.

As they did not submit the form from 2011 to 2017, Jayaganesan, Assistant Commissioner (State Tax), North Circle-II, Commercial Taxes office, Tirupur and Rathna, a clerk from the same office asked the complainant to pay the due amount of Rs 6,78,572.

After paying the amount, the complainant sought a clearance certificate, when Jayaganesan demanded Rs 10 lakh as a bribe for issuing the same. As the complainant expressed his inability to part with that much money, Jayaganesan brought down the money to Rs 7 lakh, while the clerk demanded Rs 2 lakh for processing the file.

On receiving a complaint, the DVAC sleuths set a trap and caught both Jayaganesan and the clerk red-handed when they were receiving the bribe amount. Both were arrested and further inquiries are on.