CBI books IT Additional Commissioner in DA case

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday has registered a case of disproportionate assets against Vivek Batra, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (TDS wing), Mumbai, after the agency learnt that he had amassed assets worth over Rs 6 crore fraudulently.

The CBI officials said that Batra has been under their scanner for a while. The officials also conducted searches at 10 locations in six cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Thane, Silvassa and Karnal in connection with the case. Interestingly, the CBI has named Batra’s wife Priyanka, a few industrialists and a chartered accountant in the FIR registered against him. The officials will record the statements of his wife and the other persons named in the case soon.

Batra is a 1992-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and the fraudulent amassing of wealth took place between April 2008 and April 2017. He is also facing a CBI probe in another disproportionate assets case. “Batra had acquired huge assets, both movable and immovable, while his official income during the said period was Rs 1.43 crore. Further details are being gathered,” said a CBI officer.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against him.

In another recent crackdown, CBI on July 21 arrested Padmakar Deshpande, Bank of Maharashtra’s then zonal head, Pune City and a director of private Logistics Company based in Surat in an on-going investigation of a bank fraud case to the tune of over Rs 500 crore.