Vadodara: Rs 19.67 lakh cash seized from businessman's house

cash worth Rs 19.67 lakh, including Rs 13 lakh in the new 2,000 rupee notes, kept in a gunny bag has been seized at the house of a businessman in Vadodara.

Vadodara, Dec 13: Police here chanced upon cash worth Rs 19.67 lakh, including Rs 13 lakh in the new 2,000 rupee notes, kept in a gunny bag during a raid at the house of a city-based businessman regarding illegal liquor possession.

The notes were seized from a gunny bag kept in a cupboard in the businessman's house, located on Ajwa Road in the city, during the raid yesterday, Detection Crime Branch police Inspector M S Vaghela said.

During the raid, 650 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, 6,000 notes of Rs 100, 500 notes of Rs 20 denomination, 1,000 notes of Rs 50 and 700 notes of Rs 10 denomination were seized from the house, Vaghela said.

Acting on a tip-off regarding illegal liquor possession, police first went to Goyal's house on Sunday and seizure 91 cases of IMFL and some foreign liquor brands allegedly stored in his house illegally.

"We arrested the businessman on Sunday after seizure of liquor bottles, under relevant provisions of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, as Gujarat is a dry state," Vaghela said.

The businessman was then produced before a local court which remanded him in one-day police custody. He was later released on bail.

During the remand period, Goyal revealed that a member of his family was holding liquor permit issued on health ground by the state Prohibition department and claimed that he had purchased the liquor from an authorised shop.

In order to find the invoices of the liquor purchased, police raided the businessman's house yesterday and chanced upon the gunny bag containing the currency notes and seized it, Vaghela said.

The Vadodara police have informed the Income Tax department about the currency seizure, he added.

PTI