I-T finds over Rs 100 crore; 127 kg of gold in Chennai raids

Chennai/New Delhi, December 9

In the biggest seizure of cash and gold after demonetisation, the Income Tax Department said Friday it has seized unaccounted assets worth over Rs 142 crore during searches at several locations in Chennai.

The sum includes Rs 10 crore in new notes as well as gold bars weighing 127 kg tax investigators found during raids at eight locations belonging to a group that has been accused of being engaged in illegal sand mining.

(Also read: Rs 450 cr deposited in Chandni Chowk bank since demonetisation)

This was the largest seizure of new currency notes in the country after the central government made old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes invalid on November 8.

"The group has sand mining licence for the entire state of Tamil Nadu. Eight premises (six residential and two offices) were covered in the search. During the search, Rs 96.89 crore cash in old high denomination notes and Rs 9.63 crore in new Rs 2000 currency notes along with gold weighing 127 kg worth approximately Rs 36.29 crore were found and seized, as unaccounted assets," the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body for the Income Tax Department, said in a statement issued in Delhi.

The total value of the assets is about Rs 142.81 crore.

Pictures of the seizures made by the sleuths in Chennai show big paper cartons packed with old and new notes kept beside shining gold bars in a room in a posh locality in the southern metropolis.

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It added that the searches are "still in progress at four out of the total 8 premises and more specific details including modus operandi would emerge after examination of the documents and other evidence detected during the search".     

Meanwhile, officials said a contractor working with the state government — S Reddy — has claimed the sum and the gold and is currently being questioned.

A senior department official said this seizure of gold and cash was "an unprecedented amount that the tax department has seized in recent times".

The officials said the department had conducted raids after they received a tip off.

Officials said the agency was investigating how one person had could have so much the new currency notes.

The bundles of the new Rs 2000 that were seized bore no banking slips on the them and were jumbled up to mislead investigators, sources said.

They said a number of documents related to financial transactions, entries of gold sale and records of sale/purchase have also been seized.

"He (Reddy) is a contractor working with the state government. He is claiming the entire cash and gold to be his own. Further probe is on," the source said. — PTI