Two tax officers caught taking Rs 5 lakh as bribe to waive off fine

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB), on Thursday, nabbed an excise and taxation officer (ETO) Sandeep Singh and excise and taxation inspector Vishal Sharma red handed for accepting a bribe of Rs Five lakh.
Disclosing this, a spokesperson of the VB said the accused, posted in the goods and services tax (GST) wing of excise and taxation department Ludhiana have been arrested on the complaint of Ravinder Kumar resident of Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana.
The complainant had approached the VB and alleged that the said excise officials were demanding a bribe of Rs 15 lakh in lieu of writing off fine imposed on his firm during a survey conducted by the department but deal was struck at Rs 12 lakh.
The spokesperson further said after verifying this complaint, a VB team laid a trap and both the accused excise officials were caught red handed while taking a bribe money of Rs 5,00,000 as a first installment in the presence of two official witnesses.
He informed that a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against both the accused at VB police station, economic offences wing, Ludhiana and further investigation was under progress.