I-T man in CBI net for amassing wealth

NEW DELHI, Dec 17: A senior Income-Tax officer has come in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) net for allegedly amassing wealth and disproportionate assets worth several crore in different parts of the country. The CBI spokesman said today that an FIR was registered at the central unit of the agency in New Delhi against Tukaram A Bukte, member of the Income-Tax Tribunal in Cochin, earlier this week under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

On the basis of this FIR, the CBI raided the residential premises of Bukte at over a dozen places in different parts of the country, including Cochin, Mumbai and Pune. Preliminary investigations had established that Bukte, who was earlier posted in Mumbai, had amassed wealth and assets worth over Rs 3 crore in benami, the spokesman said. The market value of these assets, according to the CBI, is over Rs 15 crore.

CBI sources said that Bukte has amassed this property during the last seven years. In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that the accused and his family members owned as many as seven flats in Mumbai itself, two shops, two office premises, four plots and three plots of agricultural land in Pune and Cochin.

Bukte had also made investments worth about Rs 50 lakh in four private firms and shares of different companies. The CBI has seized bank accounts of the official in Pune and Mumbai which show records of heavy transactions.