The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested an inspector of Rajkot’s Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2.50 lakh from the manager of a private firm over alleged illegal activities. Based on a complaint filed by Viren Shah, manager at Mishwa Corporation, the CBI on July 3 registered an FIR against the accused in Gandhinagar under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the complaint, one Jaimin Suthar — owner of the said company which trades in brass scrap domestically — allegedly received a call from Rajkot CGST inspector Naveen Dhankar in April 2024, who had demanded a bribe of Rs 3 lakh over alleged illegal activities at the firm. Dhankar even threatened to cancel the company’s GST identification number (GSTIN) if they failed to pay the amount, said the complainant. On July 1, Dhankar allegedly demanded the bribe amount again, following which, Shah filed the police complaint the next day and the CBI eventually laid a trap to nab the accused. The CBI said that Dhankar was caught “red handed while accepting Rs 2.50-lakh bribe from the complainant”. Searches were also conducted at premises belonging to Dhankar in Rajkot, and he was arrested. The accused CGST inspector will be produced in a special CBI court in Ahmedabad on Friday.
