Indus Valley Times

Accused officer allegedly collected bribes from various transporters, suppliers

By Nalini Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 17: The Odisha Vigilance department sleuths on Saturday launched massive searches at five locations linked to Binay Bhusan Tripathy, assistant commissioner CT & GST Enforcement Unit, Jajpur.

The raids were conducted on the allegation of siphoning off government money to the tune of Rs 5.85 lakh. The raids are underway after a verification was conducted by the Vigilance on the allegation of loss caused by Tripathy without collecting taxes and penalty from a scrap goods vehicle.

Preliminary verification revealed that during the incumbency of Tripathy as assistant commissioner of CT & GST (commercial tax and goods and services tax) Enforcement Unit, Jajpur, he had intercepted the goods vehicle carrying scrap weight about 22,240 kgs worth Rs 8,89,600. He subsequently contacted the owner of the goods and asked to deposit Rs 3,20,000 in the cash ledger as tax and further demanded Rs 2,50,000 towards illegal gratification to release the vehicle and material.

Surprisingly, Tripathy allegedly sold the entire scrap to another scrap dealer when the bribe demand was not met. He then realised the tax and misappropriated the balance amount of Rs 5,85,356.

The Vigilance officials informed that Tripathy is accused of having collected huge bribes from various transporters and suppliers on grounds of evasion of taxes.