Sanction granted to prosecute minister’s kin

PATNA: In what is seen as a major boost to Bihar CID, the state government has finally granted sanction to prosecute then assistant commissioner, commercial taxes, Ranchi, Nasiruddin Hyder Khan in seven cases for conniving with traders and abetting tax evasion. Khan is the son-in-law of senior Bihar minister Ghulam Sarwar.
“The sanctions were received last week and they have already been sent to Jharkhand for further action,� a senior government official told The Times of India on Saturday.With seven sanctions against Khan, the state CID has received as many as 12 prosecution sanctions against the accused in the infamous cases pertaining to massive tax evasion as well as theft of tax collection forms from the offices of commercial taxes.
A study made by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the state CID has put commercial tax evasion on edible oils alone during the last four years at Rs 186 crore.
In 1996, it may be recalled, 16 cases of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 32 crore through misuse of statutory “C� and “F� forms were lodged with the Ranchi police at the initiative of then joint commissioner, commercial taxes, Ranchi, Shivendu.
Subsequently, the cases were handed over to EOW inspector general Manoje Nath for investigation.
During the investigations, the EOW moved the court with a request to allow it to investigate old cases as well which had been closed for want of evidence.
According to sources, 45 such cases were investigated by the EOW which included 33 cases relating to Jharkhand.
The 65 officials who were named accused in these cases involving trade worth over Rs 155 crore included 11 senior commercial taxes officials.While five sanctions for prosecution of officials were granted long back, the file pertaining to the same in seven cases against the minister’s kin kept moving from one office to another of the state government.
“The EOW began the probe almost six years ago and it is now that the sanctions have come,� a CID official pointed out.
Interestingly, the EOW during its investigations put it on record that a group of officers seems to have developed nexus with, besides traders, powerful sections in politics.
So much so that the effectiveness and autonomy of the commercial taxes commissioner to take independent action appears to have been curtailed.
In fact, one of the businessmen accused in these cases made a voluntary confession that the commercial taxes officers egged them on to evade taxes, sources in the CID recalled, adding that the form manipulations were done by traders in full knowledge of the officers.
Commercial tax collection in the two states can be augmented by hundreds of crores if proper corrective measures are taken by the two governments, the EOW estimated during its investigations.