A 2004 batch Indian Revenue Services officer of the rank of Assistant Commissioner in Excise & Taxation Department in Haryana state was arrested on Saturday and was produced in the court at Palwal on Sunday and sent to the police custody on three days remand. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Haryana arrested Dheeraj Garg, a former additional excise and taxation commissioner in a bribe case on the information of CM Flying Squad playing important role in the state to wipe out corruption from the state since past couple of years and pushed large number of corrupt government employees in the state as well as owners of the companies in private sector behind bars. Garg was transferred from the state excise and taxation department in October 2022 posted as Mission Director, Haryana Skill Development Mission on deputation to the Haryana government.
The Anti Corruption B urea registered an FIR against the officials of excise & taxation department at Palwal and Faridabad on charges of collecting huge amount of bribes from transporters for letting them to evade payment of tax through a network of his subordinate employees in the department which caused heavy revenue loss to government towards GST. He was alleged collecting monthly from transporters in the area througj employees working under him with a network of brokers and avoided to check vehicles passed without checking e-bills when Dheeraj Garg then was additional excise and taxation enforcement commissioner. According to ACB teams from Faridabad, Gurugram, Karnal and Panchkula jointly conducted raids at his 22 places at a time in which he had invested amount worth Rs 46 crore having present value of these ‘benami’ properties of value worth over Rs 200 crore at Chandigarh, Panchkula, Delhi and NCR. According to an ACB officer the arrest of Garg was only a sample, yet large numbers of other corrupt employees working under him are likely to be trapped in ACB net during further investigation.
The investigation also revealed that Garg has hidden his ill-gotten wealth worth crores in number companies on fake addresses and purchased residential and commercial properties of value worth crores of rupees in the name of shell companies. According to an ACB officer, during raids mobile phones, computer and laptop of alleged accuse has been seized and Dheeraj Garg is being questioned during police remand period for his role as well the role of other officials of the department and private persons involved in such embezzlements, obtained illegal gratification which caused huge loss to the government towards GST raising fake bills by the private organizations and movement of illegal goods by the transporters after paying monthlies.
