Hyderabad: Cops, Enforcement Directorate await FIRs by I-T against jewellers
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state police and the Enforcement Directorate are waiting for criminal complaints to be filed by the Income-Tax Department against jewellers who allegedly converted hundreds of crores of old notes into gold post-demonetisation.
Except for the Musaddilal Jewellers case involving Rs 100 crore worth of black money conversion into gold using fictitious customers, no criminal case has been filed in both states though several jewellers and bullion merchants have lifted huge stocks of gold from banks and bullion corporations and deposited crores of rupees of old currency in banks.
The I-T department has not complained and so neither the police nor the CID has booked cases against them.
Haven’t received any complaints, say cops
The ED says that because there are no complaints, they cannot book cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which requires registering of a criminal case by agencies like the local police or CID or the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Vijayawada police are yet to receive a complaint from the I-T department in the case of Rajani Gold which was alleged to be selling Rs 32 crore worth of gold to around 2,000 “customers”.
Vijayawada Commissioner of Police Gautham Sawang said, “We haven’t received any complaint from the I-T department regarding Rajani Gold so far. We were told they are working on it.”
CCS DCP Avinash Mohanty said, “We have received a complaint from the I-T department regarding Musaddilal Jewellers Pvt Ltd only. We have received no other complaint. The ED has also plunged into action after the FIR has been notified to them based on which they are working on the case.”
According to sources in the ED, they can investigate cases under PMLA only after an FIR is registered by any police agency as it involves money that is the proceeds of crime. Sources said Rajani Gold at Sivalayam Street in Vijayawada had accepted the old notes against the rules post demonetisation, from November 9, for a week. Unlike in the Musaddilal case, Rajani Gold sold at excess rates and made money to the tune of '4.5 crore. E. Chandar Rao of Rajani Jewellers claimed that he has paid advance tax and denied the fraud.
Other jewellers like Rayalaseema Bullion and Commtrade, which operates in AP, TS and Tamil Nadu, CAPS Gold and Kalyan Jewellers and operating in several States and in the UAE, have come to the attention of the I-T department and the ED, and most of them have denied that their transactions are suspicious. The ED has found that Rs 2,700 crore worth of gold was bought in Hyderabad post-demonetisation.
