Thrissur: The Kochi unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday caught two income-tax assistant commissioners in Thrissur red-handed while accepting bribe from a businessman. They were identified as Vincent Joseph and Jose Kunjipalu.
According to CBI sources, the officers demanded Rs 10 lakh as bribe in return for reducing his tax default of Rs50 lakh to Rs 1 lakh. The I-T officials had asked the businessman to come to their residence in Thrissur and give the bribe through an agent.
“When the IT officials realised that we were apprehending them, they tried to throw out the money through the window to the fourth floor of their flat. However, the two were arrested as they failed the phenolphthalein test,” said Mr Krishna Kumar, CBI SP, who led the team.
The businessman had earlier approached the CBI office in Kochi when the IT officials demanded Rs 10 lakh from him for stopping an investigation against him in a tax default case.
Following the arrest, excise officials conducted a raid at the residence of the culprits and seized foreign liquor bottles without receipts and some documents. They would be produced in the CBI court in Kochi after recording their statements, the CBI officials said.
