Pitch(ed) battle between IRS officers: FIR lodged, counter-allegations emerge

Allegations and counter-allegations emerged a day after two senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers came to blows at the income tax office in Lucknow on Thursday.

- Aakash Ghosh

LUCKNOW: A lingering dispute over a departmental cricket match, which is said to have led to the physical altercation between the two, resulted in an FIR against joint commissioner Yogendra Kumar Mishra for allegedly assaulting deputy commissioner Gaurav Garg.

Based on Garg's complaint, a case was registered against Mishra at the Hazratganj police station on Friday under sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 121(2) (causing hurt to public servant), 221 (obstruction of duty), 324(3) (mischief), 352 (intentional insult) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS, along with relevant sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, said DCP (central) Ashish Srivastava.

However, Mishra took to X and claimed that he was being targeted for exposing irregularities in tax investigations carried out during his predecessor's tenure in Kanpur.

"Since 2022, after I succeeded Gaurav Garg, IRS, in Kanpur, I reported serious lapses in tax investigations during his tenure. This led to sustained vendetta against me. On February 13, a minor dispute at a departmental cricket match was amicably resolved. Yet, a distorted video of this settled incident was leaked by Gaurav Garg to malign my reputation. On March 29, this old video was circulated on Twitter by a journalist," he added.