Karnataka Lokayukta police have arrested a senior Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) department officer and a private middleman for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹8 lakh at Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala in Bengaluru.
The arrests were made after a trap operation by the Bengaluru City Lokayukta police. The accused government official is Mohith, a Central GST Superintendent attached to South Division-4, A-Range, under the South Commissionerate. The private individual who is acting as a middleman between the officer and the complainant, Salman, has been identified.
The complaint also says a man named Zameer approached the authorities after being forced to pay money in connection with a Central GST-related matter. Zameer claimed that a false complaint had been filed against him for GST dues.
Mohith and Salman had asked him to pay ₹8 lakh in exchange for dropping the case and closing it. Zameer did not want to pay the bribe, so he approached the Bengaluru City Lokayukta police and brought the alleged demand to their attention.
After a preliminary check on the complaint, Lokayukta Police filed a case under Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) along with several other sections. Investigators then had to plan a trap operation to catch the accused while accepting the bribe.
The operation was carried out at Kendriya Sadan, the central government office complex in Bengaluru’s Koramangala area. Police were involved in the operation and intervened when the bribe was paid.
The Central GST Superintendent and the private middleman were subsequently arrested on the spot. Lokayukta officials also seized the entire ₹8 lakh allegedly paid as a bribe. The recovery of the money is going to be a major part of the evidence being examined by investigators. Now the officials are investigating the circumstances of the alleged demand, the role of the private intermediary, and how the complaint related to GST was dealt with by the complainant.
The trap operation was conducted by Lokayukta Police Inspector Vijay Krishna, identified as PI-11. The Deputy Superintendents of Police Bharat Reddy, Thippeswamy, and Anil Kumar were directly involved. Shankarappa and Chidananda Murthy, along with other members of the Lokayukta team, were also involved in the operation. The coordinated operation enabled investigators to catch the government official and intermediary in the middle of the transaction.
The case is now under investigation by Lokayukta police, and the evidence and the roles of both accused persons are being examined. The incident has only further highlighted the role of anti-corruption agencies in investigating allegations of public servant bribe demands. Since the case is in an investigation stage, allegations against the accused will be subject to the outcome of the legal proceedings. As the investigation progresses, the GST matter, the evidence collected during the operation, and follow-up legal action will be revealed.
