ED seizes 146 kgs gold worth Rs 82 crore from Hyderabad jeweller

Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh): The Enforcement Directorate seized approximately 146 kilograms of gold jewellery worth Rs. 82.11 from a Hyderabad based jeweller on Thursday.

"ED seized 145.89 KG of gold jewellery worth Rs. 82.11 crores as a result of searches conducted at multiple locations namely, registered office cum residence of Kailash Gupta, jewellery showroom of M/s Musaddilal Jewellers Pvt Ltd (MJPL) at Hyderabad, ongoing investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a demonetisation case," ED said in a statement.

During the course of the investigation it was established that after the announcement of demonetisation, the accused had illegally deposited Rs. 110.85 crores in their bank accounts within a few hours they had received advances of less than Rs. 2 lakhs each from more than 5200 customers on November 8, 2016.

"Further, analysis of CCTV footages of their offices and that of the neighbourhood revealed that no such activity of purchase of gold was carried out during that period. It is further revealed that those more than 5200 invoices dated 8th Nov, 2016 were fraudulently raised on a later date," the agency said.

ED initiated investigation under PMLA on the basis of FIR registered by Telangana Police on the basis of complaint filed by Income Tax Department against Kailash Gupta, his sons and their companies M/s Musaddilal Gems and Jewellery, M/s Musaddilal Jewellers Pvt Ltd and M/s Vaishnavi Bullion Ltd. for conspiring misusing the demonetisation by illegally depositing huge amounts of unaccounted cash in their accounts.

"...The accused have admitted that they had created fake sale invoices dated 8th Nov 2016.The accused failed to give any satisfactory account of the source of this illegal cash and also failed to provide the details of the accounts regarding the utilization of around 270 kgs of gold so purchased out of this money," the ED added.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Income Tax Department seized Rs. 42 lakhs from a garment businessman of Gandhinagar. The tax officials found out that the cash was unaccounted money and businessman was unable to explain the source of money.

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