The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested an Income Tax inspector in Mumbai for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh to facilitate the closure of a benami property inquiry. The accused, identified as Subhash Yadav, was posted at Scindia House in the Ballard Estate commercial area of South Mumbai. During follow-up search operations conducted at his residential premises, investigators recovered Rs 11 lakh in unaccounted cash alongside documents considered crucial to the probe. Yadav was produced before a special court on Wednesday, which remanded him to two days of agency custody after federal prosecutors submitted that he remained evasive and uncooperative regarding the illicit transaction and the suspected involvement of other public servants.
Trap Operation Conducted After Demand at Roadside Stall
The matter originated when the complainant received an official notice from the Income Tax Department in February and visited the Scindia House office to submit a formal clarification. During that initial visit, the complainant presented his written reply before a senior supervisory authority in the presence of Yadav and a second Income Tax inspector. Following the formal hearing, the two inspectors allegedly initiated repeated telephone calls to the complainant, directing him to visit the premises again to resolve the pending matter outside regular departmental channels.
Upon his return to Scindia House, the inspectors reportedly escorted him to a nearby roadside tea stall, where an explicit financial demand was placed to ensure that the benami property case was permanently shelved. Refusing to yield to the extortion attempt, the complainant approached the Mumbai unit of the federal anti-corruption agency with a formal complaint. Agency officials carried out a preliminary verification of the allegations before organizing a decoy operation on Tuesday. When the complainant arrived at the designated meeting point, the awaiting CBI team caught Yadav red-handed while he was allegedly in the process of taking the illicit sum of Rs 15 lakh.
Recovery of Cash and Electronic Evidence During Searches
Subsequent to the arrest, investigative teams executed search warrants at the inspector’s residence and related locations, yielding Rs 11 lakh in physical cash and an array of departmental files. Sleuths also impounded multiple digital devices and mobile phones belonging to the accused, which have been forwarded for technical forensic analysis to extract call records, text messages, and digital trails connecting him to the alleged extortion racket.
Investigators are evaluating the level of confidential administrative access Yadav possessed within Benami Prohibition Unit-I of the Income Tax Department. Although the accused had been formally transferred from that specific wing in June 2026 to the department’s investigation unit, agency officials are auditing his past and present postings, official duties, and historical access to restricted departmental case records to gauge whether official documents were compromised or utilized for private extortion.
Inquiry Broadens to Gauge Network of Departmental Accomplices
While seeking custodial interrogation before the court, federal prosecutors highlighted the necessity of comprehensive questioning to determine whether the bribery conspiracy extended beyond Yadav to include other revenue officials. The agency informed the court of its plan to obtain specimen voice recordings from the accused to conduct forensic voice match tests against recorded telephonic conversations secured during the pre-trap verification phase.
The court accepted the agency’s arguments and granted two days of remand to enable investigators to confront the accused with the recovered cash and case files. Investigators are actively probing whether the second inspector present during the initial meeting played a conspiratorial role in negotiating the illicit payout. Continued examination of seized digital materials aims to reconstruct the sequence of events and identify any superior officers or administrative colleagues linked to the matter.
