Sopore, May 1: In a classic case of misuse of power, Sales Tax Officer Sopore Peerzada Zahoor Illahi had illegally kept the revenue collected from traders in his own possession.
 According to sources, Zahoor had collected tax amount of Rs 49 lakh from traders in Sopore Town from April 3 to 17.
 Additional  Commissioner Commercial Sales Tax, Mir Mushtaq Ahmad told Greater Kashmir that Zahoor had dubiously collected amount from traders and then opened Bank account in ACC’s name   and transferred the amount in it.
 “He had also forged my signatures to open the account and had even told the bank officials that he (Zahoor) is Additional Commissioner,” Mushtaq said.
 Mushtaq said that he got a call from Bank officials stating that my  bank transactions are very high. “I was somehow surprised to learn that. I enquired about this issue and found that Zahoor had opened bank account in which he had deposited all the tax amount,” Mir said adding that the case has been transferred to Crime Branch and also departmental enquiry would be instituted against the accused.
 “We have recovered the entire amount from his possession and traders need not to worry,” he said.
 Meanwhile, President Sopore Traders Federation, Haji Muhammad Ashraf hailed the efforts put in by the Additional commissioner Mir Mushtaq to nab the culprit.
 “We are thankful to the Additional Commissioner Commercial Tax  for the timely efforts he had put in saving  the precious amount of traders . We want that the culprit should be given stern punishment.” Ashraf said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 May 2012 00:00:00 IST