A routine check of lockers at the famous Bowring Institute in upmarket Bengaluru by employees has yielded huge haul of cash, gold, diamonds, expensive wrist watches, and property documents worth Rs 550 crore.
The assets belonged to a member of the club, Avinash Amarlal Kukreja, a prominent businessman with business interest in real estate, tyre and financing. Income-Tax officials questioned him even as the taxmen raided property linked to him in Bengaluru and Mysuru.
Kukreja has been a member of the club since 1993 and apparently used the lockers to hide his benami assets. While he rarely visited the club, his mother was a frequenter.
After the monthly locker rent was hiked, the club's managing committee had issued notices to all its 5,182 members to register with them if they held any of the 672 lockers, said HS Srikanth, honorary secretary, Bowring Institute.
After sending out notices several times to members, the lockers of those who did not respond were forcibly opened by the club authorities a couple of days back.
"On noticing the lockers attached to the tennis court in the club not being used for long, the authorities of the club decided to get them opened," said Srikanth.
He said police and Income-Tax departments were approached after six treasure-filled bags were found stuffed in the three lockers. The Income-Tax Department seized the valuables, he told reporters. The 150-year-old Bowring Institute, founded in 1868 by Bl Rice, a British officer, is one of the most prestigious clubs in the country.
Srikanth said the bags contained about Rs 3.90 crore in cash, diamonds worth about Rs 7.80 crore, gold bars weighing about 650 grams, a Rolex watch and another watch valued to be around Rs 35-40 lakh.
Apart from the assets, the bags also contained six files regarding properties around Devanahalli and Begur. It also contained loose cheque leaves and an entire cheque book which had been signed. The estimated value of these assets is Rs 500 crore.
The managing committee of the institute will meet on Monday to initiate action against the financier, and will be installing CCTV cameras at the locker rooms.
The I-T had raided Avinash in 2011 while tracking some suspected real estate. Srikanth said Avinash even tried to bribe him.
"On Friday, around 9 pm, an unidentified person entered my office and asked me to give him just one particular file for which he would pay me Rs 5 crore. I again alerted I-T sleuths, but he had left by then," the honorary secretary has been quoted as saying.