A total of 102 bags stuffed with currency notes, gold and diamond jewellery estimated to be worth at least Rs 100 crore were seized from four trucks in a joint operation here by 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 reporters today. The raids were conducted last night jointly by the Income Tax department and the National Investigation Agency(NIA).
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.
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.
Kumar refuted media reports which, he said, wrongly speculated that the worth of the seized cash and jewellery amounted to "thousands of crores".
However, a source said the seized cash and jewellery was worth at least "more than Rs 100 crore".
"The investigation so far does not suggest that the money was either meant for terror funding or political funding," the source said.
Home Minister R R Patil said Mumbai police will step in only in case of any terror angle.
"IT officials are investigating the source of funds and where it was meant for. Only if there is a terror angle, the case will be handed over to the Mumbai police," he said.
Kumar said the I-T department got a tip-off that unaccounted cash and jewellery was being transported in the trucks leading to the raid of the vehicles. Officials will now ascertain whether the seized goods were accounted for or not after the valuation exercise underway.
As per information received by them, the cash seized was unaccounted for, he added.
