Commercial Taxes Officer arrested with husband by DVAC Police

A woman Assistant Commissioner of the Commercial Taxes Department was arrested along with her husband on Monday by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) police for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 60,000.
The arrested officer, Maheshwari, is working as an Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes in Coimbatore. According to DVAC sources, Abinesh, an employee of a private real estate company, had approached her seeking a refund of excess input tax paid by the firm.
During the course of enquiry, Maheshwari allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh to process the refund. After negotiations, the bribe amount was reportedly reduced to Rs. 60,000. Unwilling to pay the bribe, Abinesh lodged a complaint with the DVAC police. Following this, the DVAC officials laid a trap and instructed the complainant to hand over chemically treated currency. Maheshwari allegedly gave him the contact number of Dhanasekaran and directed him to hand over the money to him. Acting on the instructions, Abinesh met Dhanasekaran near the CODISSIA Grounds and handed over the cash inside a car. DVAC police immediately secured Dhanasekaran and, during questioning, found that he was the husband of Maheshwari. He was taken to the Commercial Taxes Department office for further enquiry. Subsequently, both Maheshwari and Dhanasekaran were arrested. Further investigation is in progress.