CBI books sacked Income Tax Commissioner S K Srivastava

The CBI has booked Income Tax Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, who was recently sacked by the government, for allegedly passing backdated appeal orders to obtain undue benefits, officials said Saturday.

Searches were carried out by the agency at his residence and office.

The search operation, which started on Friday morning and continued till Saturday, took place at 13 locations in Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad, including at Srivastava's Pandara road residence and Noida office, they said.

The CBI has claimed to have recovered from Srivastava's residence jewellery worth Rs 2.47 crore, Rs 16.44 lakh in cash, watches approximately valued at Rs 10 lakh, over Rs 1.30 crore of bank deposits in the name of the former officer as well as his family members, incriminating documents related to two immovable assets and a bank locker.

It is alleged that Srivastava as Commissioner, Income Tax (Appeals), Noida passed 104 backdated orders in June, 2019 -- the month he was given forced retirement by the government, the officials said.

The agency has booked him under the Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for obtaining undue favours.

The orders were backdated to December, 2018, the CBI alleged.

Among these, 13 orders were not of his jurisdiction, the agency has alleged.

Srivastava was given compulsory retirement on June 10, 2019, but these orders were uploaded on the Income Tax Business Application (ITBA) between June 11 and June 13 by alleged misuse of RSA token, a kind of access system in the department, the agency alleged.

According to the records, the orders were dispatched on June 7, 2019 -- three days before the government sacked Srivastava, but they were sent on June 14, 2019, the agency said.

The CBI said searches were carried out at 13 locations, including a boutique in Vasant Kunj allegedly run by Srivastava's wife, residence of Amar Das whose services were used by the officer to write orders, two Chartered Accountants Anil Prahlad Kumar and K P Garg in Ghaziabad and Nehru Place, Delhi, respectively.