DeMo: ED seizes 146 kg gold jewellery worth over Rs 82 crore

New Delhi, April 18

About 146 kg of gold jewellery worth over Rs 82 crore has been seized by the ED after searches on the premises of a Hyderabad-based jeweller and his associates in connection with a post-demonetisation money-laundering case, the agency said on Thursday.

It said the raids were conducted at the showrooms of Musaddilal Jewellers at Hyderabad and Vijaywada, its promoter Kailash Gupta, a company named Balaji Gold and its partner Pavan Agarwal, another company Ashta Laxmi Gold, its proprietor Neel Sunder Tharad and chartered accountant Sanjay Sarda over the last few days.

A total of 145.89 kg gold worth Rs 82.11 crore has been seized, it said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a criminal case of money laundering against these people based on an FIR of the Telangana Police and a complaint of the Income Tax Department for “blatantly misusing the scheme of demonetisation by illegally depositing huge amounts of unaccounted demonetised cash in their accounts.”           

“For this purpose, they (accused) fraudulently created around 5,200 back-dated fabricated advance sale receipts dated November 8, 2016 for an amount less than Rs 2 lakh to avoid furnishing PAN (permanent account number) details,” the agency said in a statement.

The demonetisation of Rs 500 and RS 1,000 was declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the night of November 8, 2016. PTI