The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a Superintendent of the Central Excise & Central Tax in Bengaluru for allegedly demanding money from a content provider for television serials to waive off tax on this earnings and penalty.
The complaint, Jagadish Subray Bhave, earns ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 per episode and he gives all his payment receipt particulars to his consultant for filing tax returns with the Service Tax Department every year.
On February 16, the story writer received a letter from the office of Superintendent of Central Excise and Central Tax (Goods & Services Tax), directing him to produce within a few days certain documents with respect to the tax returns filed by him for 2015-16. The complainant’s tax consultant visited the office and shared the documents with Superintendent Jitendra K. Dagur.
It is alleged that Mr. Dagur again directed Mr. Bhave to submit the documents by March 11. The papers were sent through speed post to the office of the Superintendent. However, subsequently, the complainant received a call from the accused official, asking him to appear before him either personally or through tax consultant.
According to the FIR, the complainant visited the office premises of Central Excise and Central Tax and met Mr. Dagur. The official said that in 2015-16, the complainant had declared an income of ₹10,37,980 for which tax along with penalty would come around ₹1.5 lakh and demanded ₹50,000 to waive them off. When the complainant expressed his inability to pay the amount, the official agreed to take it in two instalments, as alleged.
However, the accused called the complainant again for documents and, after going through them, advised him to get a letter from the serial producer concerned, mentioning that the income of 2014-15 and 2015-16 were clubbed together and shown as income in 2015-16, and based on that he would waive off the tax and penalty. He allegedly again demanded the bribe.
