Income Tax officials on Thursday seized currency notes amounting to Rs 90 crore and 100 kg of gold during raids in eight places in Chennai, ANI reported. Income Tax sleuths are questioning businessmen Sekar Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy and Prem, officials said.
Rs 70 crore of the cash seized was in newly issued currency notes, officials told the news agency. The sleuths were tipped-off about Prem’s illegal transaction involving old currency notes and gold bars. Their probe led them to the two other accused. They seized Rs 6 crore in Rs 2,000 notes from Sekar Reddy’s house in T Nagar, The Times of India reported.
Sekar Reddy is also a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust. He had reportedly visited Apollo hospital to offer the temple’s prasad to deceased Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on October 12, when she undergoing treatment.
Officials said currency and jewellery worth a total of Rs 130 crore had been seized till December 6 since the government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Several taxpayers have reportedly declared Rs 2,000 crore in undisclosed wealth so far. The department reported investigations into more than 400 cases since the demonetisation drive was launched on November 8. Over 30 cases were referred to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation for further investigation.
While making the announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the step was taken to fight black money, corruption and the circulation of counterfeit currency in the country.
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