A senior Income Tax officer has been suspended by CBDT for allegedly alerting the owner of a bullion firm in Mumbai which was to be raided by tax sleuths on charges of tax evasion and bogus trading.
"The deputy commissioner rank IRS officer will now face a vigilance and disciplinary inquiry under service rules. He has been suspended and taken off from investigations charge," a source said, adding phone call records of the officer just before the raids found his role in the alleged criminal act.
The name of the officer cannot be disclosed because of investigation purposes and the probe is very important in terms of getting more leads in the case, sources said.
The department's probe wing in Mumbai had launched searches at the premises of Riddhi Siddhi Bullion Ltd and a complaint from here was sent to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that the senior officer had tipped off MD Prithviraj Kothari who has joined investigations now.
Kothari was asked by the department to make himself available for probe which he has done now, they said.
The I-T department had started searches on the bullion firm on June 11 around 7 AM but 15 minutes prior to that, Kothari had left his home, sources said, hinting that he was forewarned and alerted.
The searches were conducted at 55 places related to the firm.
I-T sleuths will now confront Kothari and other officials of his company with the documents that were seized, the sources said.
