Kanpur, February 3: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested GST commissioner of Kanpur-- Sansar Singh for allegedly taking and demanding a bribe. Along with Sansar Singh, the CBI also arrested three official staff and five private persons in the same case. As per reports, CBI has registered a FIR against Sansar Singh's wife. However, the investigation in the matter is underway.  As per reports, Sansar Singh is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service of the 1986 batch. The CBI alleged that Sansar, the commissioner of GST and central excise in the city is a “habitual” offender.

The CBI in its investigation said that the officers allegedly took bribes as “protection money” to spare companies action by the department. Reports further state that the bribes that were taken were transferred through hawala channels and paid periodically to the officers. The bribes were in the form of mobiles, refrigerators and expensive televisions, new agency IANS reported.

Sansar Chand resides in the Customs Colony in Gujaini area of Kanpur and was arrested from Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The CBI has also arrested office staff Saurabh Pandey and a private operator Manish Sharma in the case.

The CBI in its reports said that others who operated with Sansar Chand included Ajay Srivastava, Aman Shah, Rajiv Singh Chandel -- all three from Kanpur, and Amit Awasthi (from Rohini, Delhi), Aman Jain (Shivaji Park, Delhi) and Chandra Prakash (Punjabi Bagh, Delhi). The CBI’s latest move comes after it received complaints of bribery. Reports informed that Sansar Chand, some superintendents with some private persons allegedly took bribe from individuals and businessmen. As per reports by PTI, the officers were arrested after an operation by the CBI late Friday in Kanpur and Delhi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 03, 2018 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).