V. NARADA
Ranchi, Feb 21: The court of Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary of Jharkhand has rejected the bail petition of Ruparna Dutta, in a disproportionate asset case who is an accused along with her husband Tapas Datta, the then Principal Commissioner of Income Tax.
The CBI had arrested Tapas Dutta in July 2017 who was posted in Ranchi. Ruparna Dutta has been in judicial custody since December 7 last year. She had filed the bail application stating that her husband was granted default bail and the chargesheet was submitted. Thereafter, another accused Santosh Kumar Shah was also granted bail by the Supreme Court considering the default bail granted to the principal accused.
She said that she was not named in the FIR and she was roped in the case only for being the wife of the principal accused.
The CBI submitted a chargesheet and said that Tapas Dutta disproportionate amassed assets to the tune of Rs 13. 80 Crore which is 1090.24% excess to his known source of income.
The CBI charged her abetment of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. She said that she is an old ailing lady suffering from several health problems namely respiratory problems and arthritis.
The CBI contended that during the investigation huge property was seized which were disproportionate to her known source of income, although she was a housewife and no tax return was filed. She had several joint bank accounts with her husband Tapas Dutta besides 45 mutual fund investments and a number of LIC policies.
The CBI said that the investigation revealed that during the check period from 01.04.2012 to 12.07.2017, Tapas Dutta amassed assets, movable and immovable properties to the tune of Rs.9.78 Crore in the name of his family members which were disproportionate to the known source of his income. Tapas Dutta came from an ordinary family background and his wife was a housewife without any known source of income.
Out of these properties, the major property which was found in the name of Ruparna Dutta is the residence of Tapas Dutta at H.B.-12, Flat No.1, Salt Lake, Sector-3, Kolkata where the cash of Rs.3.71 Crore was seized. The investigation revealed a total disproportionate asset of Rs.13.80 Crore was found in the name of Tapas Dutta and his wife Ruparna Dutta. There were a total of four lockers in their name from which jewelry weighing 7555.4 kg worth Rs. 21,951,531 were seized.
Tapas Dutta is a 1985 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service. He was arrested in July 2017 after a series of CBI raids at his Ranchi office, Calcutta home and residences of his clients in Calcutta whose money he helped launder.
He was earlier posted in Kolkata and then transferred to Ranchi. He asked his businessmen friends to migrate the PAN of their shell companies to Ranchi and Hazaribagh under Section 264 of I-T Act. Then, allegedly, he assessed his clients’ taxes in a way that they had to pay much less, and got hefty kickbacks in return.
