Gujarat: Deputy tax commissioner, three others held over bribe in Surat

The Gujarat Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Friday detained a deputy state tax commissioner in Surat along with three others over an alleged bribe of Rs 1 lakh. According to ACB officials, Narsinh Pandor, deputy state tax commissioner, Grade 1, Surat and three others — Kishorchandra Patel, Dharmesh Goswami and Vinay Patel — were allegedly caught accepting the bribe amount at a shop near TGB Hotel in Surat’s Adajan.

“In this case, the complainant had a partnership in a finance office and he had not filed GST returns for the year 2015-2016. The accused officer had closed the GST number of the finance office and had initially demanded Rs 2 lakh bribe for opening the GST number again. The complainant was first made to hand over Rs 50,000 in cash and the four accused again kept demanding Rs 1.5 lakh. The bribe amount was then settled for Rs 1 lakh and it was then that the complainant approached us,” said an ACB official.