Sources pointed out that if Tulsiyan took up an I-T raid case, no detailed probe was allowed. “The officers will accept his disclosures and no further questions are asked. There have been instances when he has called up officers and directed them to pass orders fast,’’ another senior official said.
On important festivals, Tulsiyan ensured that the officers who mattered were taken care of. An income-tax official recalled receiving an expensive gift at his residence soon after taking charge in Kolkata.
“It was New Year and initially I thought it could have been for someone else, but I soon got a call from Tulsiyan saying it was for a ‘better working relationship’,’’ he said.
At the wedding ceremony of an ITAT member’s daughter, Tulsiyan even arranged for the accommodation and air tickets of the senior officers. Sources said he also handled the “ill-gotten money’’ of some officers, the amount running into crores.
“One of his associate is a stockbroker through whom he has routed huge amounts,’’ an official said.
Update: Kolkota: 30th May: The ‘Sanmarg’ and ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ reported that the Kolkota High Court had rejected the bail application of the accused.
Click here to see the ‘Sanmarg’ report.
NEW DELHI, MAY 15 (PTI): It was reported on Thursday, 14th May 2008 that the CBI has arrested Shri. Jugal Kishore, an Accountant Member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal posted in the Kolkata Bench for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 30 lakh.
Four others i.e. Shri. S K Tulsyan and Ravi Tulsyan, Chartered Accountants, their employee Nishant Jain and the proprietor of Mayank Securities S C Barjatiya were also arrested by the CBI sleuths in Kolkata after the agency received information about the alleged illegal deal, the CBI said.
The accused official was allegedly receiving bribe from the firms for showing undue favours in income tax matters, the CBI claimed, adding he had received the bribe amount at his residence in Nizam Palace.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: CBI sleuths arrested a senior Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) officer for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 30 lakh and three others on Tuesday evening.
Acting on a tip-off, CBI’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) officers raided the Nizam Palace residence of IT official Jugal Kishore, also an accountant member of ITAT, around 8.30 pm on Tuesday evening.
At that time, Kishore was negotiating a Rs 30-lakh deal for extending tax favours with two representatives of a private security firm S K Tulsyan and Co. Besides Kishore, two persons were also arrested for offering the bribe.
The ACB CBI has initiated a case under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
“CBI received reliable information that the official — posted as member (accountant) with ITAT, Kolkata — had negotiated a bribe of Rs 30 lakh with the firm, which was to be paid to him at his residence on the instructions of the firm’s proprietor,” a CBI spokesman said.
“Acting on the tip-off, a trap was laid by the CBI and the official was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe from the two persons. The trio (the bribe taker and the bribe givers) were arrested on the spot by the CBI team while the proprietor of the firm, S K Tulsyan, on whose instructions the money was to be paid, was arrested subsequently,” he added.
Following the trap, the premises of the accused were searched. Incriminating documents seized during the searches were being scrutinised, the spokesperson said.
Hard disks from computers of a firm replaced prior to CBI raid
The CBI sleuths came in for a rude shock when hard disks from computers recovered from a business firm in Kolkata last evening had been replaced prior to its seizure.
The CBI officials claimed that as many as 14 computers were seized from the premises of S K Tulsyan and Company during a search operation but later found that hard disk of all the machines were removed prior to its seizure.
The owner of the firm S K Tulsyan was arrested yesterday while his son, who is another proprietor of the company was missing.
Tulsyan was arrested for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy and paying a bribe of Rs 30 lakh to Accountant Member of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Kolkata Jugal Kishore (also arrested) for showing favour in Income Tax related cases before the tribunal.
The CBI officials later carried out searches at the residents of other employees of the firm and late in the night recovered all of them from the residence of one employee.
Smelling a bigger conspiracy, the CBI was now examining all the Income Tax cases pending before the tribunal where Kishore was involved, the agency sources said.
Besides Kishore and Tulsyan, the CBI also arrested Nishant Jain and proprietor of Mayank Securities S C Barjatiya.
They were produced before a designated court in Kolkata today who remanded them to four days of CBI custody.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes today clarified that the member of the Income Tax Tribunal arrested in the case did not belong to the Income Tax Department.
“It is clarified that the person concerned is not an officer/employee of the Income Tax Department”, Shishir Jha, IT Commissioner and CBDT spokesperson said.
By TIOL News Service
KOLKATA, MAY 15, 2008 : THE ordeal for the ITAT Member Jugal Kishore and seasoned Chartered Accountant S K Tulsyan who were trapped by the CBI in a bribery case on Tuesday night, continued for the third day as the local court remanded them in police custody for five days. While rejecting their bail applications, the court has accepted the arguments of the CBI counsel and remanded the two key accused and two others in CBI custody till Monday.
Meanwhile, sources reveal that the raiding parties of the premier investigating agency visited several premises of the employees of M/s S K Tulsyan & Co and have recovered 14 computer discs. These discs would now be scrutinised and analysed to find out clues which may help the agency in establishing the modus operandi of the accused duo. It is suspected that the bribe giver used to ‘tailor’ the orders in his office and simply transfer the same to the computer of the accused Member for final issuance and signing purposes. The agency has also begun collecting information about other cases where the accused might have successfully worked together! A Pandora’s box is likely to be opened soon, feel insiders.
It may be recalled that CBI caught red-handed the Accountant Member, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata late Tuesday night, accepting a bribe of Rs.30 lakh from a Kolkata based firm for showing undue favours to the firm in the income-tax matters of various parties represented by the said firm. The accused official and the two private persons offering the bribe amount were arrested at the residence of the accused official at Nizam Palace, Kolkata. The trio (the bribe taker and the bribe givers) were arrested on the spot and the Proprietor of the firm, on whose instructions the money was to be paid was arrested subsequently.
The names of the accused are,
– Mr Jugal Kishore, Accountant Member, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Arrested)
– S.K. Tulsyan, Proprietor of M/s S.K. Tulsyan & Co., Kolkata (Arrested)
– Subhash Chand Barjatiya, Proprietor of M/s Mayank Securities Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata
(Arrested)
– Nishant Jain, an employee of M/s Mayank Securities Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata (Arrested)
– Ravi Tulsyan, one of the Proprietors of M/s S.K. Tulsyan & Co., Kolkata (not
arrested, but named in FIR)
Text of the Press Release issued by the CBI
CBI arrests Accountant member, Income Tax Appellete Tribunal, Kolkata while accepting Rs.30 Lakh bribe
CBI caught red-handed an Accountant Member, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata last night accepting bribe of Rs.30 lakh from a Kolkata based firm for showing undue favours to the firm in the income-tax matters of various parties represented by the said firm. The accused official and the two private persons offering the bribe amount were arrested at the residence of the accused official at Nizam Palace, Kolkata.
The ACB, CBI, Kolkata received a reliable information that the accused official had negotiated a bribe of Rs.30 lakh from the firm, which was to be paid to him at his residence on the instructions of the Proprietor of the firm on 13.5.2008 at about 8.30 p.m. by one of the arrested persons after collecting the same from the other arrested person, who is an employee of a private Securities Firm of Kolkata. ACB, CBI, Kolkata registered a Regular Case under Section 120B IPC and Section 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against four persons. A trap was, thereafter, laid by the ACB team and the Accountant Member, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe amount from the two private persons. The trio (the bribe taker and the bribe givers) were arrested on the spot and the Proprietor of the firm, on whose instructions the money was to be paid was arrested subsequently.
Following the trap, the premises of the accused persons were searched and incriminating documents seized during the searches are being scrutinised.
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