Bhubaneswar, Feb 22: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today conducted raids at five places and arrested some middle-level officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in connection with a 2004 case of fraud in tax deducted at source (TDS) of daily wage earners of the Corporation.

The income tax from the pay of daily wage earners, some of whom earn as much as Rs 60,000 a month, are deducted by FCI at source. The wage earners mostly do menial jobs like loading and unloading of rice and wheat racks in FCI depots. FCI owns 63 depots through out the state including 23 owned by it, with a capacity of 5.83 lakh tonne.

In some cases, the wage earners get their tax refunded if the FCI deducts more tax than due to it. This happens when the wage earners make investment on which tax rebate are allowed, but it?s not shown on the TDS. The wage earners then claim the tax refund at the end of the fiscal year by submitting the proofs to the income tax department.

CBI SP Pranav Mohanty said that his department was only following up on the complaint lodged last year.