MP: ‘No claimant’ for 52 kg of gold, Rs 11 crore cash, seized in abandoned car
The seizure was made when the Lokayutka police was raiding the houses and offices of Sharma at different places in Madhya Pradesh, including Bhopal
Bhopal: There is no claimant for 52 kg of gold and a cash of Rs 11 crore, seized from an abandoned car in a jungle on the outskirts of Bhopal recently.
According to sources in the Income Tax (IT) department here, the car owner, Chetan Singh Gaur, has told the multiple probe agencies investigating the alleged money laundering case involving cop-turned- tycoon Sourav Sharma that he has nothing to do with the gold and cash seized from his vehicle.
Gaur, one of Sharma's associates, has reportedly told the investigators that he had lent his car to a driver, one of the investigating officers in the case told this newspaper on Friday, requesting not to be quoted.
Gaur’s snow-white Toyota car was found abandoned in Mendori forest on the outskirts of Bhopal in the last week of December, 2024.
Police had spotted the car and alerted the IT department, leading to the seizure of 52 kg of gold and a cash of Rs 11 crore from it.
The seizure was made when the Lokayutka police was raiding the houses and offices of Sharma at different places in Madhya Pradesh, including Bhopal.
“The IT department will probe the incident of the seizure of gold and cash in the car to find out its real owner”, sources said.
The Lokayukta police had made week-long raids in the residential and official premises of Sharma in the last week of December, 2024 and recovered a cash of Rs 7.98 crore, gold and silver jewelries and documents related to various properties.
Sharma was arrested by the Lokayukta police almost a month after his houses and offices were raided by the probe agency.
The enforcement directorate (ED) has also started probing into charges of money laundering charges Sharma.
Sharma was appointed as constable in the state road transport department in 2016 on compassionate grounds following the demise of his father, who was a government servant.
He had however taken voluntary retirement in 2023 in the wake of an alert issued by Union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari to the state government in 2023 regarding alleged corruption in some tollgates in the state.