Hyderabad: Income-Tax officials have found Rs 7 crore deposited in a cab driver’s account in the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) in the city. The money was in the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Investigation wings of the I-T, Enforcement Directorate and the CBI are grilling the driver who has not explained the source of the money to the satisfaction of the investigators.
CCTV footage shows two persons depositing the money in the cab driver’s account. They have been taken into police custody. They confessed that they were accomplices of the cab driver. A source from the I-T department said that the cab driver transferred the amount to a bullion trader soon after the deposit.
Driver’s account not used for long, says I-T
“We are focusing on a bullion trader. We suspect money laundering behind the deposit and fund transfer. Although the cab driver says the money belonged to him, we are handing the case over to the ED in view of the money laundering,” sources said.
Another official said that the cab driver wanted to pay tax on the amount under the Prime Minister's Gareeb Kalyan Yojana scheme. “He should pay Rs 3.5 crore towards tax under the scheme. But some objections are mentioned in case the source of income is from crime-related activities. We are verifying this aspect of the matter,” the official said.
During the course of the investigation, I-T teams found that the cab driver's account had been dormant and had not been used for months. “The two accomplices of the driver have revealed that the money was spent on purchasing gold from the bullion trader,” another source said.
The investigative agencies have also found that bank staff violated rules in accepting the deposit. “Nationalised bank staff should inform officials if the deposits or fund transfers are of huge amount. We are verifying the role of the bank staff,” an officer said.
