A Mumbai businessman worked together with the CBI to entrap a Thane-based income tax official, who demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from him in 2013. He's still waiting for CBI to return the amount
A 72-year-old businessman, who owns a major electronics showroom in Mumbai worked together with the CBI to entrap a Thane-based income tax official, who demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from him in 2013. JP Vaghani, owner of JP Electronics, is yet to get his money back from the CBI nearly four years after the errant officer's arrest.
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According to Hindustan Times, Vaghani has previously been involved in nabbing corrupt officials, who have demanded bribes from him nine times in the past. He owns two showrooms in Mumbai and says his business attracts demands for bribes often.
The corrupt official in question, income tax joint commissioner Sanjeev Ghei, had accused Vaghani of tax evasion and approached him accompanied by a chartered accountant to demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh as a means of settlement.
Undeterred, Vaghani contacted the CBI’s Mumbai office in Worli, who laid a trap from Ghei. Vaghani was instructed to converse with Ghei over the phone by CBI officials during which the bribe amount was negotiated to Rs 3.5 lakh.
Ghei was caught red handed while accepting the money by CBI officials when Vaghani went to pay him the money. The sum was then kept in CBI custody during the trial and subsequent investigations.
Vaghani claims that usually the court releases the bait money after the complainant approaches the court and submits his request in writing but the CBI has yet to submit a clearance, which it can only do after filing a charge-sheet on the case.
Vaghani recounts a similiar experience with the CBI in 2006, where the money he offered up for bait in order to nab a corrupt official was returned to him in 2011.
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