New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation Saturday raided Noida office and residence of sacked Income Tax Commissioner (Appeals), S.K. Srivastava, after a case of cheating, forgery, and doling out undue favours was registered against him.
Srivastava, who was one of the 12 I-T officers who were forcibly retired by the government for their professional misconduct, has also been accused of sexual harassment of two women IRS officers of Commissioner rank.
According to a CBI source, when Srivastava got to know that he is being removed, he passed several backdated orders. Sample this: He decided 104 appeals and dispatched its orders on 14 June — three days after he was asked to vacate the post. He, however, allegedly manipulated the dates in the order and put 7 June instead of 14 June to show that he passed the orders while he was still holding the post of the Commissioner. According to the source, he allegedly received benefits to manipulate these records.
The source also said that these orders, which were in reality passed after 11 June, were also uploaded with a backdate on the ITBA system.
“The officers have one RSA token that they use to upload these orders in the system, which was misused by Srivastava. The dispatch records show that he manipulated the orders dispatched on June 7, 2019 while it was actually dispatched on June 14, 2019, after he had left the post,” a CBI source said.
Jewellery worth Rs 2.7 crore recovered
According to the source, 13 locations associated with Srivastava — including the official residence in Pandara Road, premises of his associate Amar Das, residence of two charted accountants, Anil Prahalad Kumar and K.P. Garg, and the boutique of his wife at Vasant Vihar — were raided by the CBI and recoveries worth crores were made.
According to the source, jewellery worth Rs 2.47 crore, Rs 16.44 lakh cash, watches worth Rs 10 lakh were recovered from Srivastava’s residence. An amount of Rs 1.3 crore was also found in his bank account and that of his family members.
The CBI has also recovered documents to show that he owns properties worth crores of rupees in Delhi and Noida.
Sexual harassment charge & petition against NDTV
Just two weeks before he was forced to take voluntary retirement, Srivastava’s name appeared in a chargesheet, with seven allegations against him. A formal inquiry against him was also initiated on 23 May this year.
Srivastava, who was forced to retire five years before his service was to end, was also arrested in the past in a case of sexual harassment.
In the past, Srivastava has filed many petitions, including the one against news channel NDTVand others before the Special Judge hearing the 2G spectrum case.
In 2011, the judge had, however, ruled that the Income Tax officer “is not connected with the case in any manner” and that Srivastava had made “unsubstantiated, unwarranted and malicious” allegations against NDTV and others and was also penalised for doing so.
He allegedly made scandalous allegations against women Income Tax officers, making a “false facade of inquiries” against top officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and making “unsubstantiated and malicious” allegations in the ongoing proceedings in theNDTV and 2G spectrum cases.
According to the CBDT, Srivastava had misbehaved by making objectionable references to women officers belonging to the Indian Revenue Services (IRS).
The CBDT has cited a 2016 CAT order against Srivastava in which the Tribunal had stated that “S K Srivastava is in the habit of filing fanciful and celebrated litigation, levelling allegations against the Minister concerned, and other higher officials in order to settle personal scores.”