Money flight: Police in both states drag feet

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, November 27

The police in Haryana and Nagaland seem to be dragging their feet in taking action in the case of flight of demonetised currency from Hisar to Dimapur.

Even six days after the cash was seized at the Dimapur airport, the police in both states have maintained that they have found no cognisable offence in the transportation of cash by a chartered aeroplane.

Though the Hisar police have initiated preliminary inquiry, they have found no evidence. “A probe by the Income Tax Department is going on. I have asked the SP to submit a report on the incident, but there is no FIR in the case,” said OP Singh, IGP, Hisar range.

Dimapur Police Commissioner Liremo Tsopoe Lotha stated that the matter pertained to the Income Tax Department and they had no reason to initiate any investigation. “We will register a case if anyone lodges an FIR with evidence of criminal violation,” he said.

The police and intelligence agencies had information about an Audi car bearing a fake registration number of Gurugram that was used in ferrying the cash and Amarjeet Singh to the Hisar airport to catch the flight to Dimapur on November 22.

An Innova MUV had also been used on November 13. “The names of two Haryana residents who reportedly took this route to change their unaccounted money into accounted cash are known to the income tax authorities and police,” sources said.

A probe established that two passengers, whose names were known to the police, took five bags of denometised currency in a chartered flight to Dimapur on November 13. They ferried around Rs 15 crore, with each bag carrying Rs 3 crore,” claimed the sources.

Ramesh Kumar Yadav, Commissioner (Investigation), CBDT, said the probe was still going on. He added that more cash might not be seized besides Rs 10.5 crore and jewellery worth Rs 1 crore already in possession of the department.