Karnataka: I-T dept seizes Rs 5.7 crore from hawala dealer’s ‘secret bathroom chamber’

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 tiled walls of the bathroom. The cash stash of Rs 5.7 crore, all in new Rs 2,000 notes, 28 kg of bullion (gold biscuits), 4 kg of other gold and jewellery was 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 and Chitradurga districts.

A good number of documents and another Rs 90 lakh cash (Rs 100/20 notes) has been seized after the searches on the said 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.

This is not the first instance that the new and old currency notes have been seized. It has been more than a month since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation move on December 8 but the long queues outside banks and ATMs still remain a usual sight. The I-T department have been conducting regular raids across the country and recovering huge amounts of cash and gold.

Earler this week, an unaccounted amount of Rs 11.13 lakh was seized from Belgavi, Karnataka. Of the recovered cash, Rs 8.5 lakhs was in denomination of new Rs 2,000 notes, Rs 1.5 lakh in Rs 100 currency notes and remaining Rs 50,000 in demonetised Rs 500 notes.