Poll squad seizes gold worth Rs 1,000 cr
The pure gold in bar form weighed 1,425 kg, but the men carrying it had documents only for 400 kg
CHENNAI: In the biggest ever seizure during the poll period in Tamil Nadu, and perhaps in the country, an election flying squad seized a gold bar consignment weighing a whopping 1,425 kg, estimated to be worth more than Rs 1,000 crore during a vehicle check-in on Vandalur-Minjur Outer Ring Road, on Saturday.
To put the enormity of the seizure in perspective, the entire value of the gold and other precious metals and jewels seizure from the Model Code of Conduct came into effect on March 16 till Saturday morning is ‘only’ Rs 127 crore.
The flying squad officials who were checking vehicles at random on Vandalur-Minjur Outer Ring Road near Kundrathur on Saturday intercepted a car and a lorry that were heading towards Sriperumbudur. When they inspected the lorry, the officials found gold bars inside several boxes weighing more than 1,400 kg.
When questioned, the lorry driver and the men who were travelling on the escort car told the officials that the gold bars belonged to a firm and they were being taken to a factory in Sriperumbudur. The men claimed that they had all the necessary documents. However, when the officials checked the documents, they found several details were missing in the documents.
Following this, they seized the gold-laden lorry and the car, and detained the men. They were taken to the Sriperumbudur revenue office. The Kancheepuram district election officials and Income Tax came there soon afterwards to conduct further investigation. The officials found that the document that the men carried mentioned only 400 kg of gold, while the gold they seized weighed 1,425 kg – more than 1,000 kilograms in excess. Now the officials are investigating to whom the gold bars belong to.
The news of the seizure understandably created a buzz among the public and traders in Chennai.
“The cost of one kilogram gold bar of 24-carat purity is around Rs 75 lakh, while the jewellery grade gold (22 carat) costs about Rs 67.80 lakh per kg,” explained Jayantilal Challani, president, Jewellers and Diamond Traders Association of Madras. That puts the value of the total seizure (including that of the 400 kg gold for which there are documents) at a whopping Rs 1,068 crore.
According to the Election Commission, it has so far seized cash worth Rs 155 crore, while the overall value of other materials seized, including gold and other precious metals, liquor, and other freebies will be around Rs 169 crore.