An income tax official, posted in Mumbai, arrested by the CBI with 5 others, used an unique modus operandi for collecting bribes. He would utilise serial numbers of Rs 5 notes as handover signals
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An income tax official, posted in Mumbai, arrested by the CBI with 5 others, used an unique modus operandi for collecting bribes. He would utilise serial numbers of Rs 5 notes as handover signals.
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According to The Times of India, BB Rajendra Prasad, who is currently in custody, was nabbed for accepting a bribe from a corporate house in connection with giving it an order in the firm's favour regarding the trust, which the company is affiliated with.
The accused, BB Rajendra Prasad, income tax commissioner (appeals; Mumbai), was arrested on May 2. He was bribed through a hawala operator in Visakhapatnam, where he owns a house and had gone to attend the wedding of a close relative. He is a 1991-batch Indian Revenue Service officer.
CBI sources reveal that the bribe amount was entrusted to Manish Jain of Maa Ambe Jewellers, Zaveri Bazaar, by an official from the corporate house with the aid of a chartered accountant named Shreyas Parik, as per Prasad's instructions.
The hawala operator, who Prasad was in contact with sent the money to Visakhapatnam through instalments. The operator told Jain to meet him with a five-rupee note of a specified serial number, and hand over the currency after verifying the same.
Rs 50 lakh, Rs 70 lakh and Rs 80 lakh were collected in three occasions through this method and sent to Vishakapatnam after which the order was passed on April 21.
CBI officials got suspicious and were watching Prasad's movements. They laid a trap and arrested him after catching him red-handed. The entire bribe amount was recovered from the hawala operator, after which the CBI registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act for investigation.
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