Bhubaneswar, Oct 29
The Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday arrested a senior tax official after he was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a businessman for waiving the penalty imposed on him for non-payment of professional tax for three financial years.
The accused official, Umakanta Mahakur, is currently posted as the Assistant CT & GST Officer at Ttlagarh in Balangir district.
The complainant had failed to pay the professional tax amounting to Rs 7,500 (@ Rs 2,500 per year). For the non-payment, he was served a notice by the accused officer to pay Rs 23,600, including tax, fine, and interest.
The accused officer has been arrested and is scheduled to be forwarded to court on Thursday. In this connection, a case was registered on October 28 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.