While most us were standing in queues to withdraw money, two government officials had stashed away new currency worth crores.
In an operation carried out by the Income Tax Department, Rs 4.7 crore cash in new denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 30 lakh in smaller denomination were unearthed from premises owned by two senior government officials from Bengaluru.
A source said that the money belonged to the Chief Project Officer with the Public Works Department, and a senior official with the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Ltd. The IT dept is yet to officially disclose names of these officers.
The money stored in bundles was recovered from the house of the son of the PWD chief project officer.
Apart from the Rs 5 crore in cash, the I-T Department also recovered 7 kg bullion worth Rs 2 crore.
A picture released by the department shows wads of Rs 2,000 notes and other currencies spread out on a mattress in the house.
The Bangalore Mirror reported that one of the raids was conducted in the house of Trijesh Jayachandra, son of SC Jayachandra, the chief project officer of the PWD.
The sleuths also found a Porsche and a Lambhorgini at Trijesh’s house.
The I-T Department says the raids were conducted in various premises at Bengaluru, Chennai and Erode.
The network of these people included top government officials, a manager of a private sector bank and touts, who were exchanging cash they had for new currency.
The I-T Department says that the exchange to the new currency notes was based on a certain commission.
With such large amounts being converted into new currency notes, the department recieved tip-offs from a source who knew about the clandestine operation.
The raids are on-going in all the three cities and I-T Department sources say that they expect the recovery to go up.