Ahmedabad, Aug 21 (IANS) An Ahmedabad CBI court on Friday sentenced an Income Tax Officer to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 after convicting him in a 2013 bribery case involving a Rs 10,000 payment sought for issuing a tax exemption certificate to a charitable trust.
The court convicted Jarnail Singh, then an Income Tax Officer (OSD) in the office of the Joint/Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Audit) at Pratyakashkar Bhavan in Ahmedabad following the conclusion of the trial.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the case was registered on February 22, 2013, after Singh allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 from the complainant for issuing certificates under Sections 11 and 80G of the Income Tax Act to allow the Shrilekha Vividhlaxi Charitable Trust to claim tax exemption.
The CBI subsequently laid a trap and caught Singh red-handed while he was accepting the alleged illegal gratification of Rs 10,000 from the complainant. He was arrested on the same day.
The investigating agency filed its chargesheet later in 2013, following which the case proceeded before the Special CBI Court in Ahmedabad.
A May 2026 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal’s Ahmedabad bench, concerning Singh’s service-related proceedings, records that he had joined the Income Tax Department as an inspector in 1993 and was promoted to Income Tax Officer in 2001.
It also records that he was placed under suspension following the 2013 CBI trap and was later reinstated in February 2014.
He was subsequently prematurely retired from service under Fundamental Rule 56(j) in November 2019 while departmental proceedings and the criminal case were pending.
The tribunal order also confirms that the bribery allegations related to a demand of Rs 10,000 for issuing a certificate under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.
The CBI has previously announced convictions in bribery cases involving Income Tax officials, including a three-year rigorous imprisonment sentence awarded by a Special CBI Court in 2022 in an unrelated case.
With today’s verdict, the Ahmedabad court has now concluded the criminal proceedings against Singh by finding him guilty and sentencing him to three years’ rigorous imprisonment along with the Rs 20,000 fine.
–IANS
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