New Delhi: In a significant blow to the integrity of India’s Faceless Income Tax Assessment Scheme, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax and a private individual for allegedly leaking confidential assessment information in exchange for bribes.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Vijayendra, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer from the 2015 batch, and Dinesh Kumar Agarwal, a private citizen. According to officials, the duo conspired to subvert the government’s flagship anti-corruption reform by providing taxpayers with insider details—such as the identities of assessing officers and the nature of scrutiny issues—in high-value tax cases.
Launched to remove human discretion and increase transparency in tax proceedings, the Faceless Assessment Scheme was allegedly manipulated to influence outcomes for personal gain.
The CBI had earlier conducted searches on February 6 across 18 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, Bengaluru, and Kerala. These raids led to the recovery of incriminating documents and digital evidence, shedding light on the scale and coordination of the scheme.
The case was initiated based on a complaint from the Income Tax Department and names the IRS officer, two tax inspectors, five chartered accountants, and other unnamed individuals. Vijayendra and Agarwal were presented before a court, and the investigation is ongoing.
This development marks the first set of arrests in the case and signals a stern move by the CBI to clamp down on corruption within the tax administration system.
