Over Rs 4 cr cash in new currency seized in Bengaluru

New Delhi, December 1

In one of the biggest seizures of new currency, the Income Tax department on Thursday seized Rs 4.7 crore in searches against two individuals in Bengaluru.

Officials said the searches were launched on the premises of an engineer and a contractor.

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A total of Rs 5 crore were seized during the raid, of which Rs 4.7 crore were in denomination of new Rs 2,000 notes and Rs 30 lakh were old and smaller notes.

Also, 7-kg bullion worth approximately Rs 2 crore were found in a flat owned by a civil contractor.

"Huge stacks of Rs 2,000 notes have been recovered. The cash amounts to over Rs 4 crore.

"This is one the highest seizures of the new currency.

Some entry operators and bankers are under the scanner," a senior I-T department official said.

They said the department has also found a number of identity cards of various individuals from the searched premises which could have been used to illegally change the old currency with new ones.

Only yesterday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had seized Rs 10 lakh cash in new notes of Rs 2000 from the premises of a Kolkata-based doctor.

The agency conducted nationwide search operations yesterday at 40 locations and seized about Rs 1 crore in new notes.

Both the I-T department and the ED, along with other enforcement agencies and police, are undertaking these operations after reports of instances of illegal exchange of old currency and stashing of new currency notes to perpetrate hawala and money laundering like activities. — Agencies