The CBI has arrested three GST officials and a private individual in a Rs 10-lakh bribery case involving tax issues of an Odisha-based education trust, officials said Wednesday.
They said the agency laid a trap to take into custody GST and Central Excise Superintendents -- Artabhanjan Kar, Pradip Kumar Acharya and NN Sahoo -- and Accounts Officer of Centurion Institute of Technology in Jatni, Khurda, Ashutosh Padhy, they said.
They were caught exchanging the alleged bribe of Rs 10 lakh between them, the agency officials said.
Detailing how the case unfolded, the officials said the CBI has registered a case alleging a notice was issued to the Centurion Institute, imparting higher education in Management, Engineering etc, for submission of some documents for financial year 2017-18.
The accused officials then went for an inspection and audit of the institute in the third week of December.
"It was further alleged that the accused demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the concerned official of the said Institute to settle the GST issues at a very less amount of tax and not to raise violation matters," CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said.
He said searches were conducted at the premises of the accused at Jatni (Khurdha) and Bhubaneswar during which incriminating documents were recovered.
