Tax officer held for graft

CHENNAI: A senior tax official was arrested by sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), on bribery charges on Monday.  Sources said deputy commercial tax officer Gabriel was ‘trapped’ by a DVAC team following a complaint lodged by a company owner Alagar Raju, alleging that the official demanded `5,000 as bribe for issuing a tax identification number to the firm jointly run by him and his wife. The application for permanent TIN had come to the officer for verification and he demanded the amount to clear it, he claimed.  While Alagar Raju was making the payment of the initial amount of `4,000 to Gabriel, a waiting DVAC team arrested the officer.