IT, NIA 'mega-seizure' worth only Rs.10 crore

Flummoxed Income Tax (I-T) officials have launched extensive investigations to trace the ownership of yet to be accounted Rs 10 crore seized from four trucks which also had packets containing diamonds and gold nuggets bound for Gujarat cities.

Talking to media on Wednesday afternoon, Director-General (Investigations), I-T, rubbished reports pegging seizures of “unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 200 crore to Rs 2,500 crore,” categorically stated: “The counting of the unaccounted cash is over. It is Rs 10 crore.

As for the precious stones and jewellery. Let me make it clear that the stocks are never seized. We are verifying and evaluating the stocks, and it will be released after due verification. Forty per cent of the work is over and 60 per cent of the evaluation and verification is still left.”

The interception of 150 bags containing hard cash including counterfeit currency notes, precious stones and gold jewellery  had sparked off wild rumours ranging from terror-funding angle to pre-election funds for political parties.

The late Monday night operation was carried out on a tip-off gleaned by the NIA; a watch was kept in the parking bay outside the Mumbai Central Railway station where four tempos were parked.

Search of the vehicles revealed 150 bags with 102 of them containing currency notes all bound for various cities in Gujarat.

Apart from the drivers and cleaners 47 “Angadiya” (traditional courier) were detained and grilled. DG (I-T) Kumar said that all of them have been released after due questioning and verification.

Angadiya traditional couriers from Gujarat have been ferrying consignments containing usually precious stones, jewellery, gold and silver between various cities and towns, for nearly a century.

Soon after the news broke on Tuesday morning  “Angadiya (s)” reached I-T office in South Mumbai staking claim on various parcels.

The couriers milling around the I-T office, disowned the discovery of cash in the consignments and emphasized that they mostly ferry precious stones, jewellery, gold, silver and furnished proofs and receipts for the packets seized by the authorities.