Thane Court Declares CBI Arrest of IRS Officer, Two Others “Not Legal” in ₹1.5-Crore Bribery Case
A Special Court in Thane has held that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s arrest of a senior IRS officer, a CGST Superintendent and a private individual in an alleged bribery case was “not legal”, dealing a significant procedural setback to the agency’s investigation.
The three accused are Vinay Kumar Kantheti, a 2009-batch Indian Revenue Service officer serving as Additional Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax in Raigad, CGST Superintendent Rakesh Kumar Sinha and private individual Narinder Rajput.
The CBI had arrested the trio after alleging that Sinha had demanded ₹1.5 crore from a businessman associated with a stone-quarrying firm for settling a GST and royalty-related matter.
According to the agency, negotiations subsequently brought the alleged demand down to ₹40 lakh. The CBI then laid a trap and allegedly caught Rajput accepting the ₹40 lakh payment on behalf of the accused public servants. The agency said the acceptance was subsequently acknowledged by Sinha and Kantheti.
The arrests followed registration of the case on August 26. The CBI subsequently searched premises connected with the accused and reported recovering an additional ₹43 lakh in cash and jewellery valued at approximately ₹90 lakh.
However, when the accused were produced before the Special Court in Thane, the CBI sought five days of custodial interrogation. The defence challenged the legality of the arrests, arguing that the mandatory arrest procedures had not been properly followed.
The court scrutinised the arrest memos and case diary and concluded that the records did not establish that the accused had properly been informed of the grounds and reasons for their arrest.
The court also observed that the arrest documentation appeared to have been prepared by officials themselves without establishing that the accused actually understood the grounds of arrest. It further noted that their relatives had not been informed in writing. On this basis, the court concluded that the arrests were not legal.
The court separately rejected the CBI’s request for custodial interrogation. It pointed out that the alleged bribe money had already been seized and mobile phones had been recovered during the personal searches of the accused.
In the court’s assessment, the CBI had not provided satisfactory reasons showing why further custodial interrogation was necessary at that stage. The three accused were therefore ordered to be released on personal bonds of ₹15,000 each, with directions to cooperate with the investigation.
The court’s order does not amount to an acquittal or a finding that the alleged bribery did not occur. The immediate issue before the court was the legality of the arrests and the CBI’s request for further custody.
The CBI, meanwhile, has indicated that it intends to challenge the court’s order and maintain that it has substantial evidence concerning the alleged demand and acceptance of the bribe.
The case now presents two parallel legal questions: the underlying allegations of corruption involving senior CGST officials, and whether the CBI can proceed with further custody after correcting or successfully defending the arrest procedure.
Further investigation into the alleged ₹1.5-crore demand and the ₹40-lakh trap is continuing.
