New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monday recovered 3.5 kg of gold, 2 kg of silver, and Rs 1 crore in cash during raids conducted across locations in Delhi, Punjab, and Mumbai. The searches were part of an ongoing investigation in a bribery case that has led to the arrest of two individuals, including a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer.
Dr Amit Kumar Singhal—a 2007-batch IRS officer (Customs & Central Excise)—arrested Sunday is accused of demanding bribes and targeting an individual with whom he was in business, before the partnership fell apart. While in business, he opened pizza franchises under his mother’s name, but the contract was later terminated for “unprofessional conduct”.
Singh is currently posted as the Additional Director General at the Directorate of Taxpayer Services, located in the CR Building at Delhi’s ITO.
In a statement, the CBI said it carried out searches at multiple locations across the three cities, also recovering documents related to a locker and 25 bank accounts held with various banks, as well as documents of immovable properties and assets located in Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab. The agency added that the total value of the recovered movable and immovable assets is yet to be determined.
The case by the central agency was registered on 31 May over allegations that the IRS officer had “demanded illegal gratification” of Rs 45 lakh from the complainant in exchange for extending favourable treatment from the Revenue/Income Tax Department.
“The demand was accompanied by threats of legal action, imposition of heavy penalties, and harassment in case of non-compliance,” the CBI said.
The agency said it laid a trap that led to the arrest of the second accused, Harsh Kotak, on 31 May. He was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from the complainant on behalf of the IRS officer at the latter’s residence in Mohali. Kotak was later arrested from his home in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Both accused were produced before the court Sunday and have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
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What the complaint says
The complaint against the accused, a copy of which is with ThePrint, said that Singhal—who in 2019 was the Joint Commissioner in the Customs department, Mumbai—had approached the complainant, a businessman, for a partnership through M/s Parker Impex, in the name of the IRS officer’s mother and another person.
They entered into franchise agreements with M/s La Pino’z Pizza in Mumbai. This was followed by other business franchise agreements with M/S Flevaco, a partnership firm of Harsh Kotak and his mother. Another agreement was signed with Kotak’s wife’s M/s Mohini hospitality.
In 2020, Kotak, a friend of Singhal’s, replaced the other partner in the business co-owned by Singhal’s mother. However due to “unprofessional conduct” and “material violations of the agreed terms”, the complainant states that he terminated the agreements in December 2024.
The complainant alleges that after concluding all business dealings, Kotak failed to return a security deposit cheque, claiming he had misplaced it and promising to return it. However, the cheque was never returned. “As I stopped doing all business with them, Mr Amit Kumar Singhal and Mr Harsh Kotak started to have personal enmity and agony with me,” the complainant says, implying harassment.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)