The special investigation team (SIT), probing the case of missing Rs 6.6 crore after raid by Khanna police at Jalandhar priest Father Anthony’s house, on Tuesday said the figure was exaggerated.

The SIT said it has arrived at the conclusion that the priest lied regarding the missing amount after interrogating the two ASIs, Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, who are in police custody following their arrest from a Kerala hotel. The probe team has now found that Rs 14.5 crore was recovered from Anthony’s Jalandhar house. Anthony claimed that the police had recovered Rs 16.65 crore from his house, but showed it to be Rs 9.66 crore, while misappropriating the remaining account.

The SIT has decided to quiz Anthony is a day or two, said an SIT member. The SIT said some bank officials were present at the priest’s house in Partapura when the raid was conducted on April 29. These bank officials were rounded up for questioning by the SIT on Monday.

“The bank staff claimed to have counted the cash lying on the ground and the first floor of Father Anthony’s house. We have also analysed cash receipts provided by the priest claiming that the cash was from business proceeds,” an SIT member, pleading anonymity, said.

According to the SIT, the two ASIs were thoroughly grilled following which they admitted to have pilfered Rs 4.5 crore. “We have already recovered this amount,” said the SIT member.

The priest, when contacted by HT, said the actual cash that went missing was Rs 5.78 crore. “Just after the raid, when I was being interrogated by the income tax department, the person who wrote the complaint on my behalf wrote the missing amount as Rs 6.6 crore by mistake. In my statement to the SIT, I have claimed it to be Rs 5.78 crore and I am ready to give all records,” said Anthony.

First Published: May 08, 2019 06:16 IST