Income Tax Sleuths Find 30 Crores Stashed In 350 Private Lockers 

Delhi: The Income Tax Department recovered Rs 30 Crores from over 350 private lockers located at a shop in Naya Bazaar in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area on Monday. The IT officials found cash worth around Rs 30 Crores, found in denominations of Rs 2000 from 39 lockers.

According to a report in an English daily, the shop where the vault was discovered, belonged to Ashok Kumar Gupta, who was into dry fruits business. Around 20 years ago he had apparently opened a private vault with 350 lockers in the shop basement and six months ago he rented the ground floor of his shop to a soap dealer.The vault which was in the basement was still controlled by Gupta and his son and was guarded by a security guard and witnesses around the shop say that many people would visit the shop on a daily basis.

Initial investigations indicate that the cash was brought in through the hawala route and the purpose of money stored in these vaults is yet to be ascertained. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been alerted about conducting further inquiry to check if any terror-funding angle is involved and this could probably be done after the counting of cash is completed.

Meanwhile, the shop owner Gupta claims that there is no illegality in the business and that they have been running the vault with an RBI license since 1992.

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