Bhagalpur, July 18: Around 12 armed persons broke into the closed office of the Bhagalpur circle income tax (I-T) commissioner in a high-security area late on Saturday night, ransacked five rooms and decamped with cash, electronic gadgets and several vital documents.
The building that houses the office on the first floor is located right behind the residence of city superintendent of police, Bhagalpur, and Bhagalpur police centre near the busy Kutchery Chowk. The daring act has rattled the police.
Assistant I-T commissioner Saurav Kumar lodged an FIR with Ishakchowk police station on Sunday. According to the FIR, around 2am, two burglars scaled the wall and overpowered the elderly night guard, Anup Lal Singh, at gunpoint. Singh was blindfolded and the office building keys were snatched from him. Thereafter, eight to 10 armed criminals stormed into the building and looted five laptops, a pen drive, a digital camera, some important office documents and Rs 24,000 by breaking open the gates and safes.
The building lies close to the Tilkamanjhi-Ghantaghar stretch of NH-80, which has busy traffic throughout the night, and the office of a vernacular newspaper.
Prasant Bhusan, the income tax commissioner, Bhagalpur circle, said over the phone that the department lost some important and valuable records.
Sources from the I-T commissioner's office disclosed that out of the five laptops looted, three belonged to the department, while the rest were seized by I-T officials during raids. The department lost valuable clues in important tax-related cases saved in the laptops.
"The laptops were very important for us and we were working on the basis of vital clues stored in them. Information regarding tax defaulters was also saved in the laptops. Now, we will face immense difficulties to start proceedings against such tax defaulters or in important cases," said a source at the office.
Sources claimed that the burglary was a well-planned conspiracy engineered by people with vested interests who are already under the scanner of the department. The objective was only to take away confidential data of the department.
"We have started assessing the loss suffered in the incident. It is not wise to disclose the names of the suspected persons," said an I-T officer.
Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police Sanjoy Singh said preliminary investigations indicate that it was a conspiracy to steal important files and records. "The incident might be the handiwork of influential persons who also happen to be I-T defaulters. Police are interrogating the night guard because we suspect the account he gave," Singh told reporters.
Surendar Paswan, the officer-in-charge of the police station, said the police recovered some items the burg- lars left behind at the scene of crime.
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