NOIDA: The Income Tax (IT) department has recovered jewelry worth Rs 2.8 crore, kept in several private lockers, on the fifth day of their search at a former IPS officer’s house in Sector 50, sources said. The IT team, which started the survey at the house of RN Singhan IPS officer of the 1983 batch, on January 29, has so far recovered Rs 8.5 crore, of which Rs 5.77 crore is said to be unaccounted for.
According to senior IT officials, Singh was running a private firm – Manasam Noida Vault – from the basement of his house in A block of Sector 50. The company was opened in 2017, the same year that Singh retired. The firm had 700 private lockers, most of which were found to be empty. The cash and some documents were found stashed in 18-20 lockers. The IPS officer’s wife had the proprietorship of the company while his son was the custodian of lockers.
On Wednesday, sources told TOI that the team recovered another four kg gold and diamond jewellery, approximately worth around Rs 2.8 crore. “The locker from which the jewelery have been recovered belongs to a businessman linked with a liquor company. We have seized the jewellery,” an IT department officer said. Most of the cash recovered during the search belonged to a Ghaziabad builder, a Delhi-based chartered accountant and a tobacco industrialist, the officer said.
“Their names can’t be revealed at the moment as a detailed investigation is underway. We are also finding out whether this cash was from some Benami property. We are also probing if the owners of these lockers had links with any politician or if the money was being made available for the assembly election,” the officer said.
The search concluded on Wednesday, the official said.
Speaking to media persons, the former IPS officer earlier said, “After my retirement, I stayed in my village. There is a private locker facility that we provide. Two lockers are in my name. Nothing illegal has been found in them except family jewellery . The IT team is searching the other lockers. I don’t know about the cash that has been recovered.”
Meanwhile, Congress’s Noida assembly candidate Pankhuri Pathak took a veiled jibe at the BJP over the cash seized from the premises of the retired IPS officer. “Ram Narayan Singh Retired officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre Rs 3 crore cash recovered Noida Connect the dots yourself (sic),” Pathak said in a cryptic Hindi tweet.
According to senior IT officials, Singh was running a private firm – Manasam Noida Vault – from the basement of his house in A block of Sector 50. The company was opened in 2017, the same year that Singh retired. The firm had 700 private lockers, most of which were found to be empty. The cash and some documents were found stashed in 18-20 lockers. The IPS officer’s wife had the proprietorship of the company while his son was the custodian of lockers.
On Wednesday, sources told TOI that the team recovered another four kg gold and diamond jewellery, approximately worth around Rs 2.8 crore. “The locker from which the jewelery have been recovered belongs to a businessman linked with a liquor company. We have seized the jewellery,” an IT department officer said. Most of the cash recovered during the search belonged to a Ghaziabad builder, a Delhi-based chartered accountant and a tobacco industrialist, the officer said.
“Their names can’t be revealed at the moment as a detailed investigation is underway. We are also finding out whether this cash was from some Benami property. We are also probing if the owners of these lockers had links with any politician or if the money was being made available for the assembly election,” the officer said.
The search concluded on Wednesday, the official said.
Speaking to media persons, the former IPS officer earlier said, “After my retirement, I stayed in my village. There is a private locker facility that we provide. Two lockers are in my name. Nothing illegal has been found in them except family jewellery . The IT team is searching the other lockers. I don’t know about the cash that has been recovered.”
Meanwhile, Congress’s Noida assembly candidate Pankhuri Pathak took a veiled jibe at the BJP over the cash seized from the premises of the retired IPS officer. “Ram Narayan Singh Retired officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre Rs 3 crore cash recovered Noida Connect the dots yourself (sic),” Pathak said in a cryptic Hindi tweet.
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