LUCKNOW, Jan. 24 -- A bid by suspended CGST deputy commissioner Prabha Bhandari to deflect blame in the Rs.70-lakh bribery case has backfired with her own subordinates making fresh and damaging disclosures before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), prompting the agency to record statements of more businessmen and traders to corroborate the allegations in the bribery scandal in the Central GST (CGST) department in Jhansi, senior officials said. During custodial interrogation on Wednesday, Bhandari allegedly sought to shield herself by placing the entire responsibility for the bribe demand on other officials. However, sources said the move proved counter-productive as other accused GST superintendents Anil Tiwari and Ajay Sharma told the CBI that at least seven more traders in Jhansi were allegedly approached and pressured to pay bribes in return for tax relief. They also disclosed that repeated phone calls were made from the GST office to intimidate traders. While they were evasive on whether payments were actually collected in all cases, they claimed that several traders initially complained informally but later withdrew out of fear of punitive action against their businesses. Following these disclosures, CBI investigators are now preparing to record statements of other businessmen and traders, who may have been approached or threatened, to independently verify the claims made during remand. Officials said the agency is also examining call records and other material to establish a wider pattern of coercion. The three officials were taken on remand after their arrest in the high-profile case. While Bhandari was granted one day's remand, Tiwari and Sharma were remanded for three days. Sources said Bhandari offered little substantive inputs during nearly eight hours of questioning and continued to shift blame. The case surfaced when the CBI caught Tiwari and Sharma red-handed at the CGST office in Jhansi, allegedly while accepting Rs.70 lakh in cash-the first instalment of an agreed bribe. Under questioning, both officers allegedly named Bhandari as the mastermind behind the deal. To secure direct corroboration, investigators asked one of the arrested superintendents to call Bhandari on speakerphone in their presence. The official informed her that the "party" had delivered Rs.70 lakh. Bhandari allegedly responded with "very good" and instructed that the cash be converted into gold and handed over to her. The conversation was recorded and is being treated as key evidence. At the time, Bhandari was in Delhi. A CBI team arrested her there, while another team simultaneously broke open her locked flat in Jhansi on December 31 night and conducted a nearly four-hour search, recovering cash, gold, jewellery and property documents. The case dates back to December 19, when a CGST team led by Bhandari raided Jai Durga Hardware in Jhoken Bagh, Jhansi, over alleged tax irregularities. Investigators said a tax demand of nearly Rs.13 crore could have been raised. Soon after, a backdoor deal was allegedly offered to "settle" the case for Rs.1.5 crore through advocate Naresh Kumar Gupta and the firm's proprietor Raju Mangtani. Besides Bhandari, Tiwari and Sharma, the CBI has arrested Mangtani and Gupta. Subsequent searches yielded another Rs.90 lakh, taking total cash seizures to Rs.1.6 crore, along with gold, silver and property papers. The case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act....