1,389 kg TTD gold seized by Tamil Nadu cops
The TTD officials said the board did not want to renew the deposit as the interest being offered by the bank was not satisfactory to it.
Nellore: The police manning a check-post at Vepambattu in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu seized 1,389 kg of gold belonging to the TTD and took four persons into custody on Wednesday.
According to TTD officials, they had deposited the gold at Punjab National Bank and it was being brought back to the TTD treasury as the term of the deposit expired around 20 days ago. The TTD officials said the board did not want to renew the deposit as the interest being offered by the bank was not satisfactory to it.
Punjab National Bank officials also confirmed the claim, adding that the gold was being sent back to the TTD after the term of deposit maturity period according to the board's instructions. Some of the gold was imported from Sweden and was being sent to the TTD after customs clearance.
The officials said that they were in possession of all documents to prove that the gold belonged to the TTD. They said they would meet the collector of Tiruvallur on Thursday to take possession of the gold and hand it over to the TTD.
The bank officials said they had brought the issue to the notice of the Election Commission.
Director general of police Ashutosh Shukla said that the gold would be released shortly.
Meanwhile, TTD EO said they had deposited 8,500 kgs of gold in Andhra Bank and Punjab National Bank sometime back. He said they had given a letter to the Punjab National Bank to return the gold to the TTD treasury following the completion of maturity period.
He confirmed that the gold was confiscated at a check post in Tamil Nadu and that the Bank was taking steps to get it released.