The CBI has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information on IRS officer Santosh Karnani, who has been “missing” since October 4 after his name surfaced in an alleged bribery case worth Rs 30 lakh, officials said on Thursday.
The central investigation agency also obtained a non-bailable arrest warrant from a special CBI court against the officer after he “not join the investigation” despite four notices from the agency, they said.
The agency searched 21 locations on November 19 and 21, including the homes of some relatives and others, including some Income Tax officials, and recovered incriminating documents, articles, and Rs 41.96 lakh in Fixed Deposits, they said.
The documents recovered during searches are being scrutinised, they said.
The officer, who was assigned as an additional Income Tax Commissioner class-I in Ahmedabad, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from builder Rupesh Bramhabhatt.
According to his complaint, the Income Tax Department searched Bramhabhatt’s offices and prepared an appraisal report which was given to the Central Circle-1 of Ahmedabad for issuing “demand notices.”
According to the FIR, Karnani, who took over the case allegedly demanded the bribe for not doing anything that could cause the complainant significant financial loss.
According to the CBI FIR, Karnani summoned Bramhabhatt for a meeting on October 3 and instructed him to deposit the bribe with the ‘angadia’ firm account in the name of one ‘Vardhaman.’
The builder had complained to the Anti-Corruption Branch of Ahmedabad Police, which launched a trap operation on October 4, but the officer allegedly managed to give them a slip, they said.
Karnani was transferred to Guwahati nearly a week after the trap operation but he has not joined the office and is on “unauthorised leave”, they said.
The central probe agency has found that Karnani was in the “Agreed List” of the government since 2015 yet he kept getting important postings in the department, they said.