40kg silver seized from KSRTC bus

BENGALURU: Silver articles worth around Rs 15 lakh that were being carried illegally in a Vijayawada-bound KSRTC bus were seized during a surprise check on Friday.The driver and conductor of the Airavat Club Class bus have been suspended while the case has been handed over to Commercial Tax department for further probe.

N Narayanappa, the driver-cum-conductor, and driver Krishnamurthy H were suspended after they were allegedly found involved in the transit of unauthorised luggage. The owner of the seized silver articles has been traced and he is said to be in touch with the Commercial Tax department officials.

KSRTC officials said a team led by Divisional Controller G T Prabhakara Reddy conducted a check of the KSRTC bus, which had left Kempegowda Bus Station in Majestic, at Hoskote toll at 8.58 pm on Thursday. After checking the tickets issued to passengers, the officials proceeded to check the luggage compartment of the bus, and found four bags without KSRTC luggage tags. A huge quantity of silver lamps were found in the bags.

“When we questioned the driver and conductor, they said the bags had no accompanying passengers. They were immediately withdrawn from the service and the silver lamps were seized. An additional driver and driver-cum-conductor, who had gone along with the line checking team, were engaged and they took the 45 passengers on board to Vijayawada,” an official said.

A total of 699 silver lamps weighing 40.950 kg, worth around Rs 15 lakh, were found in the bags. The Commercial Tax department officials were alerted about the incident and they took up the case, seizing the items. The Commercial Tax officers will further investigate the case, the official added.