GST Superintendent and Lawyer Under CBI Investigation for Rs 22 Lakh Bribe in Betting Website Case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently investigating a case involving a GST Superintendent from Mumbai and a lawyer working for a private company linked with an online betting website. They are suspected of being involved in a Rs 22 lakh bribe given to a GST Intelligence officer posted in Kolkata. As per the CBI officials, two individuals have already been arrested.
The case started when a complaint was filed by the GST intelligence officer, Vivek Pratap Singh, from Kolkata. Based on this complaint, CBI carried out a “reverse trap” where the two men named Ram Sevak Singh and Sachin Kumar Gupta were arrested while they were allegedly giving a bribe to him for clearing an ongoing case against the private company.
Vivek Pratap Singh was assigned to investigate tax evasion related to offshore online betting websites. During his inquiry, he received input about an offshore online betting website that was not complying with GST. This website had links to www.lordexch.com, www.lordsexch.com, and www.lotusbook247.com. He also discovered a UPI ID, which had a banking name of Artimbe It Private Limited. This was common to all the above links.
He tracked the payment details through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), during which he found a bank account number, 8859370474, connected to a Prepaid Payment Instruments issuer, Appnit Technologies Pvt. Ltd., with Nitin Kapoor as its Director. He issued a notice to the company asking for the details of KYC, AoF, Bank Statement, etc. He also reached out to Kapoor on his phone, requesting him to give the account opening form and bank statement of Appnit Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Later, Singh received a phone call from Priyanka, who introduced herself as the company’s lawyer, asking him to meet in person for the settlement of the case. However, Singh did not agree to the meeting and asked her to send the documents in the mail. He again received a call from a person named Abhishek, who claimed to be a GST Superintendent in Mumbai. As per Singh, Abhishek offered him an Rs 1 crore bribe for dropping the proceedings against the company.
Singh then reported the matter to the CBI, resulting in a reverse trap operation. Singh, who had a hidden voice recorder, met Abhishek at a hotel in Kolkata, where Abhishek urged him to accept the bribe and suggested demanding at least Rs 20 lakh from Priyanka to resolve the case. Abhishek even offered to assist in arranging the bribe amount for more than Rs 20 lakh.
During a lunch meeting attended by Priyanka, Abhishek reportedly offered Rs 22 lakh as the bribe, which Priyanka approved by saying “done”. The CBI then carried out a raid, arresting Ram Sevak Singh and Sachin Kumar Gupta, who were caught delivering the bribe of Rs 22 lakh.
The CBI has booked Abhishek Katiyar, the Superintendent in Mumbai, and Priyanka, who was the lawyer, and two companies, Artimbe It Pvt. Ltd and Appnit Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
