Man held with ‘Rs 7 crore cash’ from Rourkela-bound bus

GUMLA: A man allegedly carrying more than Rs 7 crore in five bags was arrested from a bus on Tuesday night in Gumla, the police said on Wednesday.
The amount was in four big and one small hand bags. The arrested man has been identified as Md Farid. Two of his accomplices, identified as Md Kaif and Vishal Kumar, fled, the police said. All are residents of Rourkela in Odisha. They were going to Rourkela from Delhi by changing buses on the way with the huge amount, the police added.
A team of five income tax officers arrived in Gumla after being informed by the Gumla police on Wednesday afternoon.
According to police, the man was caught from the passenger bus on its way to Rourkela from Lohardaga.
Acting on specific information, Gumla superintendent of police Ehtesham Waquarib conducted a naka checking during which the man was caught with the five bags under Gumla police station area on the Gumla-Lohardaga road.
The police immediately informed the income tax department.
The superintendent of police said, “We received a tip on Tuesday night following which we put up checkpoints at three places under Ghaghra, Gumla and Palkot police stations. We arrested a man with five bags full of cash. He was coming from Lohardaga and was on his way to Rourkela via Gumla. After talking to Gumla DC, we kept the seized bags in a sealed room at Gumla police station in the presence of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Ravi Jain and informed the income tax department.”
After reaching Gumla, income tax officers interrogated the man in the presence of the SP and the SDO.
Income tax authorities have consulted local bank officers to count the seized money at night.
The SP said, “There were three men coming from Delhi while changing buses at different locations. Two managed to slip away while one was caught. An inquiry is on to get the full details of the recovered amount, its source and others aspects.”
“At present, we cannot say how much money has been seized,” the SP added.
However, it is learnt the bags are full of big denomination of Rs 2,000 notes which might be worth around Rs 7 crore.