Nagpur: Last week’s cash haul episode continues to remain mainly a case of robbery by the cops themselves. The income tax department, which in the normal course gets possession of any high amount of cash seized under suspicious circumstances, has still not received the amount.
This has proven to be a major hurdle in establishing the money trail. The cash was found to be belonging to Raipur-based business firm Maple Group. Its director Ali Jivani has claimed ownership saying that it was part of the company’s regular sale proceeds. However, despite the raids the taxmen conducted last week, the sleuths have not been able to grill Jivani.
“He was not present during the search operations,” said a source.
Even as the procedure calls for the cash being handed over to the income tax department, here it could not happen due to peculiarity of the case. The vehicle which was intercepted originally was carrying Rs5.76 crore but over Rs2.5 crore was taken away by three policemen including an officer of assistant police inspector’s rank.
The cash has been recovered and the cops have been booked for robbery. “Since it is a case of robbery, the cash has been deposited in the court as it happens during any such case,” said a source.
“Although Jivani has mentioned that the cash was accounted for, the claim is yet to be backed with proof,” said the source. “To establish the exact money trail, the person has to be cross-questioned and papers scrutinized. The department may intervene in the court to get possession of the cash.”
Post demonetization there were many cases of cash haul by the police. It was handed over to the income tax department which did the further investigations.