A total of 102 bags stuffed with currency notes, gold and diamond jewellery estimated to be worth at least `100 crores were seized from four trucks in a joint operation here by the income-tax and NIA sleuths while they were being transported to Gujarat by private couriers. Forty-five persons accompanying the goods are being questioned after the trucks were raided outside the Central Railway terminus in south Mumbai, director-general of Income-Tax (investigations) Swatantra Kumar told mediapersons on Tuesday. The raids were conducted on Monday night jointly by the Income-Tax department and the National Investigation Agency.
I-T department officials said prima facie the cash appears to be part of hawala transaction to be carried to Gujarat from Mumbai. The cash and jewellery were believed to be unaccounted for.
Ironically, the courier consignment was being escorted by the Mumbai police personnel, who claimed that it was a regular practice to provide escorts to “angadias” (private couriers) carrying cash and high valuables to prevent dacoities. A senior police official said that it is not the police’s responsibility to verify whether the cash and jewellery were accounted for or not.
Mr Kumar said that counting is still on by about 50 income-tax officers.
An assessment of the total worth of the seized cash, gold and diamond jewellery would be available only after that exercise was over, he said. Mr Kumar refuted media reports which, he said, wrongly speculated that the worth of the seized cash and jewellery amounted to “thousands of crores”.