06 November,2015 06:57 AM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
Onkar Ganvir accepted huge sums of money for his Mumbai-based charitable trust in return for favourable orders; he was sentenced to two years and fined Rs 50,000
The Mumbai Sessions court yesterday convicted a former income tax commissioner in a disproportionate assets case.
Judge M N Bondre awarded a jail term of two years to Onkar Ganpatrao Ganvir with a fine of Rs 50,000 under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The court acquitted his wife Priti, who was a co-accused in the crime.
The CBI had filed the case against the couple in the year 2009. The CBI public prosecutor Kavita Patil examined nine witnesses in the trial. According to the prosecutor, Ganvir had served as tax commissioner at Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai.
During his tenure with the tax department from 2001 to 2008, the convict was found to be in possession of assets worth Rs 98 lakh. The prosecutor alleged that he had obtained pecuniary advantage of about Rs 48 lakh in the form of huge donations for his Mumbai-based charitable trust from I-T assesses or parties coming under his jurisdiction.
The prosecutor alleged that during the raids conducted at his residence, the CBI had recovered cash and properties worth crores. Ganvir retired in 2008 with a net salary of R18,77,400 per year.
Post retirement, Ganvir and his wife were found to be in possession of assets worth R3 crore. Priti, who was a housewife, had allegedly invested Rs 9.3 lakh in her name from 2006 to 2009. Apart from this, she was also co-owner of several properties with Ganvir.
The court, however, acquitted Priti from the case. Through his ill-gotten money, Ganvir had purchased a residential property in Churchgate and a Skoda car. He had also invested the money in shares, mutual funds, insurance policies and fixed deposits.
