Mumbai: Spl CBI Court Sentences Ex-CGST Official, Wife To Jail For Possessing ₹1.24 Crore Disproportionate Assets

Mumbai: The special CBI court has convicted and sentenced former Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) superintendent Prasiddh Dubey, 66, and his wife Vimla, 62, both senior citizens, in a disproportionate assets case. The officer has been sent to four years in jail, while his wife has been sentenced to two years in prison.

The CBI had booked the couple on February 20, 2018, based on secret information about disproportionate assets, alleging that Dubey, while working as superintendent (GST, Audit-1, Mumbai), possessed assets disproportionate to his known source of salary from June 1994 to February 2018.

The investigation revealed that the couple had assets worth Rs 2.03 crore. Besides, it was claimed that after calculation of the income and expenditure, from all sources, the assets were found to be 107.69% more than the couple’s income.

The agency had claimed that Dubey’s assets at the beginning of the check period was Rs 9.11 lakh but at the end of that duration it was Rs 2.44 crore. The prosecution claimed that the properties were acquired by Dubey in the name of his wife.

However, the defence claimed that being a public servant, Dubey did not contribute in acquisition of any properties by Vimla. Further, the defence had claimed that Vimla had an independent source of income, such as her own business of garments, rental income from the properties and also agriculture income.

It was further claimed that any property held by Vimla, as the two reside together, cannot be said to have been acquired by her on behalf of her husband, a public servant. However, CBI prosecutor Vimal Soni contended that though Vimla had an independent source of income, it wasn’t sufficient to acquire these properties.

The court, after hearing both the sides, seeing their documents and their calculations, arrived at the conclusion that Dubey held disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 124 crore.