The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two accused persons, including an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official, on the allegation of attempting to sabotaging the faceless scheme of Income-Tax assessment.

They have been identified by the agency as 2015-batch IRS official Vijayendra, who holds the police of Deputy Commissioner in the Income-Tax Department, and a private person named Dinesh Kumar Agrawal.

According to the CBI, the two along others were contacting various assessees of pending high value IT assessment cases, promising favourable orders in lieu of pecuniary benefits.

In 2019, the government had introduced the faceless scheme of Income-Tax assessment as a reform to increase transparency and reduce human interface, thereby preventing corruption. “However, these accused persons have been clandestinely collecting and disseminating the confidential insider information pertaining to this scheme: like the name of the assessment officer, the issues under scrutiny, etc., pertaining to the pending big ticket assessment/appeal cases, to the assessees and thereafter collecting bribe amounts,” said the CBI.

Raids across States

On February 6, the agency had searched 18 locations in Delhi; Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra; West Champaran in Bihar; Bengaluru in Karnataka; and Kottayam in Kerala, after registering a case against nine persons, including the Income-Tax Deputy Commissioner and two Inspectors, and five Chartered Accountants (CAs).

Among those named were Income-Tax Inspectors Dinesh Kumar Verma and Binayak Sharma, both posted in Mumbai; Chartered Accountants Malik Girish Ananda (Delhi), Sushil Kumar (Delhi), Shivratan Mangelal Singrodia (Mumbai), Bhavesh Parshottambhai Rakholia (Mumbai), and Prathik Lenin (Kottayam, Kerala); besides Mr. Agrawal (Delhi).

In this case, a company owner had lodged the complaint alleging that Mr. Agrawal, in conspiracy with unknown CAs and public servants of the Income-Tax Department, gained access to the details of many high value pending assessment and high value refund cases. He would, either himself or through others, approach the assessees and offer to settle the pending cases in their favour in exchange for pecuniary benefits.

During the preliminary enquiry, the agency found WhatsApp chats purportedly between Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Vijayendra, showing that information about assessment officers and other details of various pending cases were shared by the IRS official. They were forwarded by Mr. Agrawal to various CAs to coordinate with the assessees interested in getting their cases settled, as alleged.