Excise official accepts Rs 1000 bribe,gets 2-yr jail term

She was caught red-handed accepting the bribe in her office on August 19,2011 by the anti-corruption wing of CBI,Pune unit.

A special CBI court has sentenced a 56-year-old superintendent of service tax (central excise department) to two-year imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 to issue a private company an ST II form.

Special judge S V Yarlagadda also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the convict,Seema Vinayak Harchekar,who worked at the office of the assistant commissioner of service tax at Excise Bhavan in Akurdi. She was caught red-handed accepting the bribe in her office on August 19,2011 by the anti-corruption wing of CBI,Pune unit.

Suresh S Patil,an employee with M/s Challenge Auto Tech Private Limited,Talwade,had lodged a complaint with CBI after she allegedly demanded Rs 1,000 for giving him the hard copy of the companys ST-II form.

In the absence of a certificate,it had become difficult for the complainant to complete all service tax formalities.

According to CBI,during her office search,a register was seized wherein the issuance of the form ST-II has been entered. As per Harchekars statement,though the complainants form was ready on October 13,it was not entered in the register for reasons best known to her.

CBI Inspector Alok Sinha investigated the case. Public Prosecutor Vivek Saxena and D N Mhaske represented the CBI. Harchekar was sentenced as per the Prevention of Corruption Act under two counts, said Saxena.

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