Faceless I-T scheme: Delhi court extends custody of income tax official, CA in bribery case

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the CBI custody of an income tax official and a chartered accountant in a bribery case connected to the “faceless” I-T assessment scheme.

The finance ministry had introduced the faceless scheme to increase transparency, reduce human interface and prevent corruption. The scheme is called “faceless” as the assessee does not get to see the face of his or her assessing officer and know who will be conducting the assessments.

Principal district and sessions judge Anju Bajaj Chandana extended the custody after I-T deputy commissioner Vijayendra R and D K Agarwal were produced before the court on the expiry of their three-day CBI custody.

The court extended their remand by two days though the CBI sought five days of their custody.

Also read: Delhi Zoo welcomes four Asiatic lion cubs after 16 years, one dies

The central probe agency claimed of discovering certain new facts during previous custody period, requiring further investigation aside from corroborating large volumes of electronic data.

“Considering the nature of facts of the case, further two days police custody remand of accused persons namely Dinesh Kumar Agrawal and Vijayendra Ramchandra Murthy is granted for the purpose of effective investigation of the matter,” the judge ordered.

The court directed their production on May 1.

The CBI plea said the FIR named other accused persons, who had to join the investigation for the purpose of interrogation with the arrested accused.

The agency sought to dig deeper to “ascertain the modus operandi of commission of offences”.

Senior advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, appearing for Vijayendra, opposed the CBI plea and asked when all the facts and material were under CBI’s control, why was it seeking more custody without any justification.

The judge on April 26 sent the accused persons to the custody after they were produced before the court after their arrest.

Vijayendra, a 2015-batch Indian Revenue Service officer posted at the department’s Jhandewalan office in Delhi, was arrested in the capital whereas Agarwal was arrested in Gujarat’s Bharuch.

The CBI probe into the matter purportedly revealed the duo contacted several assessees of pending high-value I-T cases, promising favourable orders in their cases under scrutiny in return for bribes.