GST Ex-superintendent Bollineni Sreenivasa Gandhi booked for demanding Rs 5 Cr bribe

Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked two top officers formerly with the tax anti-evasion wing of the GST, Hyderabad Commissionerate, in a graft case. The two colluded and demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore from a private company against whom a probe was on, CBI said.

The central investigating agency booked Sudha Rani Chilaka- former deputy commissioner of tax-anti-evasion wing and Sreenivasa Gandhi Bollineni, the then Superintendent of the department. It is pertinent to mention that, in 2019, Bollineni Gandhi and wife were booked in a disproportionate assets case to the tune of Rs 3 crore.

The CBI were acting on a complaint filed by one Vivekanand Swamy V, who informed its Anti-corruption wing.

Investigation found that Chilaka Sudha Rani and Sreenivasa Gandhi Bollineni, both formerly serving with the tax-anti-evasion wing were probing a case against a company 'Infiniti Metal product India' . The group is accused of wrongfully availing fake input tax credit (ITC) to evade GST payment.

The two top officers reportedly colluded with other GST officials and demanded a bribe of Rs 5 crore towards official help. “They ( referring to the two officials) accepted Rs 10 lakh cash and demanded for open land/plots for the balance of the bribe amount.’ CBI said.

The CBI in the connection with the two officials booked the director of Bharani Commodities, Satya Sridhar Reddy Jagannagari for keeping the investigating agency in dark regarding bribe demanded and paid.

The third accused was arrested by the GST officials in a fraud case, he was sent on judicial remand in 2019. The accused reportedly paid Rs 10 lakh to the officials under the threat of arrest of his wife J Raghavi Reddy. “He failed to report the matter to CBI or any other law enforcement agency within a period of 7 days" CBI said.

GST Ex-Superintendent Bolleneni Sreenivasa Reddy probed high profile case.

Gandhi served in as an assistant director with Enforcement directorate, he was appointed as the investigating officer 100 crore demonitization fraud case booked against city's Musaddilal Jewellers , PMLA cases against mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy.

He is also accused of acting like a spy in certain cases, investigation found. The CBI had received inputs about Gandhi allegedly leaking information to Sujana Group on its Rs 300-crore tax evasion scam. Besides this, the CBI was also probing if Gandhi was instrumental in allocating cases for investigation in the ED during his role as an assistant director.

Gandhi entered the service by joining the excise department as an inspector in 1992. He was later promoted as superintendent and posted in Hyderabad. He also served with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence before serving in Enforcement Directorate and GST's Tax-anti-evasion wing .