Bhubaneswar, April 10: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against three officials of the Income Tax Department for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹10,000 from a farmer to deactivate his PAN card.
The accused have been identified as Income Tax Inspector T. Satyanarayana Rao, clerk Bhimasen Barik, and data entry operator Kumaresha Samaresh. The agency has initiated an investigation into the matter.
According to reports, the complainant, Subash Chandra Sahu (50), a farmer from Barakuda village under Airfield police limits, had recently applied to link his PAN with Aadhaar. During the process, a discrepancy was found in his father’s name—recorded as Yogi Sahu in Aadhaar and Jogendra Sahu in the PAN card. Instead of rectifying the error, he applied for a new PAN card and obtained it, unaware that holding two PAN cards is an offence.
The issue came to light when Sahu faced difficulties in carrying out transactions at a bank. Bank officials informed him that the problem was due to possession of two PAN cards and advised him to approach the Income Tax office to deactivate the old one.
Sahu then visited the office, where he first met data entry operator Samaresh, who directed him to clerk Bhimasen Barik. Both allegedly demanded ₹2,000 to process the request. When Sahu expressed inability to pay, he was taken to Inspector Satyanarayana Rao, who allegedly demanded ₹10,000 and refused to accept the application.
Sahu later approached the CBI with a complaint. Acting on it, the agency registered a case against the three officials and has begun a detailed probe into the incident.
