From cars to bathrooms to boxes, the nationwide operations against black money hoarders and hawala operators are continuing to yield huge recoveries be it of cash or gold/bullion. A month into demonetisation, when cash-starved people continue to throng ATMs and banks, the recovery of such huge amounts of new currency only indicate how the system continues to be manipulated by a chosen few.
Bulk seizures of new currency rose on Saturday with four more incidents being reported, including one in the national capital where raids by Delhi Police Crime Branch at a law firm in Greater Kailash l have yielded more Rs8 crore in cash.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department also recovered Rs5.7 crore cash in new notes secretly stashed inside the bathroom of a hawala dealer in Chitradurga district in Karnataka. A fresh seizure of Rs24 crore cash in new notes was also made by the I-T sleuths in Chennai, adding to the biggest haul of cash and gold post-demonetisation, in which over Rs142 crore unaccounted assets have been recovered in tax operations on Friday.
In another incident, CGI recovered Rs65 lakh of new currency in Rs2,000 denomination from the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Hyderabad in connection with its probe in the note exchange racket.
Officials, while giving details of the incident in Karnataka, said the I-T Department seized the alleged undisclosed assets from the residence of the said hawala operator who is yet to be identified.
Officials said the taxman raided the premises based on Intelligence inputs about the presence of huge cash and the sleuths were startled to find a cleverly-hidden stainless steel safe, above the wash basin, inside the bathroom.
The cash stash of Rs5.7 crore, all in new Rs2,000 notes, 28 kg of gold bars, 4 kg of gold and jewellery were stuffed inside this bathroom safe, which was kept sanitised against termites using hundreds of mothballs.
The assets were recovered after the department’s investigation wing in Panaji on Friday began searches against casino and bullion traders in Hubballi city and Chitradurga district of Karnataka.
Documents and another Rs90 lakh cash (Rs100/20 notes) have been seized after the searches on the hawala dealer, they said.
“The searches in this case are still going on at various places and the valuation of the bullion and jewellery is being conducted,” they said.
Regarding the incident in Tamil Nadu, Officials said the fresh seizure of new currency, in Rs 2000 notes, was made by the sleuths from a car in Vellore on the insistence of the accused presently being interrogated in the case.
With this amount, the total seizure in the case has now gone up to Rs 166 crore in a single case.
The department had seized Rs 142 crore undisclosed assets - that includes about Rs 10 crore in new notes and gold bars weighing 127 kg -- during searches at multiple locations in Chennai, for the last two days, to check tax evasion.
This largest seizure of new currency notes after the old Rs 500/1,000 notes were scrapped on November 8, took place after raids were launched on Thursday on eight premises of a group engaged in sand mining in Tamil Nadu.
In a statement, the CGI said K Sudheer Babu, the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, had kept the amount of Rs 65 lakh as his commission for allegedly exchanging over Rs 3.75 crore of old currency with the new one.
“The money seized was the commission of K Sudheer Babu, as he kept it aside as his share, out of Rs.3.75 crore, which he misappropriated by fraudulently exchanging old currencies for new currencies from the post offices falling under his division. So far CGI had seized Rs 92.68 lakh of new currency in Rs 2000 denomination, in these cases,” it said.
In Telangana, an amount of Rs 82 lakhs, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 currency, was seized at Kothur near Hyderabad, police said Saturday. The cash, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes and Rs 11 lakhs in hundred rupee notes, was seized during vehicle checking at Kothur on Friday, they said.
In Rajasthan too, Rs 7,20,000 in new Rs 2,000 currency notes were seized from Bhilwara.
In a major breakthrough, the Punjab Police on Saturday said four persons were arrested with fake currency of face value of Rs 4.15 lakh in Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 denomination from Rampura in Sangrur district of Punjab.
Acting on a tip-off, police stopped a car near a T-point at Rampura and seized counterfeit currency notes of face value of Rs 4.15 lakh in denomination of Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 on Friday, SSP (Sangrur) Prithpal Singh Thind said.
A printer, scanner and other material used in printing fake currency notes were also seized from them, the SSP said.
Meanwhile, cash worth Rs 10.5 lakh in defunct notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was seized from a former BJP corporator near Saswad, 30 km from Pune, police said on Saturday.
The amount was seized from Ujjwal Keskar, a former BJP corporator from Pune, when he was on the way to Baramati with three others on Friday, they said. Keskar, however claimed the cash was legitimate.