Karnataka: Rs 6 crore seized from government officials, contractors

Bengaluru: While the general public is aggrieved at not having access to their money and banks plead shortage of funds post demonetisation some unscrupulous government officers have not only deposited their black money; they have even got their unaccounted crores exchanged with alleged connivance of some bank managers.

The Directorate of Income Tax, Bengaluru, since Wednesday, has seized unaccounted cash of around Rs 6 crore, out of which Rs 4.5 crore were in newly introduced of Rs 2000 denomination currency, from two engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD) and two contractors in the city.

“The I-T officers during the search and seizure operation on the premises of two PWD engineers, including S.C. Jayachandra who is in charge of state highways, and two contractors have seized unaccounted cash of Rs 6 crore. That apart, they have seized seven kilos of jewellery and bullion along with Rs 10 cr worth of cars and bikes from the four accused. The search operations are going on. What is shocking is that the hoarded money is in new currency, which proves the connivance of bank officials, where they hold their accounts. The black marketers are back in business, which explains the currency shortage for over the counter transactions for general public,” said an official source.

Investigation till now has revealed that the engineers and contractors have been in possession of black money for a long time. “While one of them is heavily into gambling, another one splurges it on purchasing Lamborghini car and Ducati bike,” the officer added.