Seized gold, silver worth Rs 70-cr vanish from Delhi sales tax office!

On 1 March, a special team of the VAT department seized two bags abandoned on two rickshaws parked in the godown of old Delhi Railway station. The officials reportedly left bags which contained huge amount of gold and silver in a car which they parked at Indraprastha metro station for the next few days.

Two days later, a team member got an anonymous call from someone whose identity was not disclosed to this reporter who said the bags belonged to him. Until 9 March, when VAT commissioner ordered a committee to ascertain the quantity of the seized articles, the car had been left in the same spot. But then, after the orders were issued, the seized bags were moved to the office on the 13th floor of the Sales Tax building, reportedly in a sealed box. ‘Instead of keeping the box in any other floor deemed comparatively safer, the team chose to keep the box inside a locker with single lock in a room adjacent to the conference hall on 13th floor for two months until 10 May when it was stolen,’ a source said.

‘The team did not inform the senior authorities of the theft. Rather they filed a complaint at IP estate police station,’ the source added. When the police officials investigated the case, they allegedly framed a peon identified as Pitambar Naitu who committed suicide on 17 May alleging harassment. Meanwhile, discrepancy over the value of the stolen items arose when the department submitted a report alleging that the stolen gold and silver was estimated to be at Rs 7.5 crore. However, according to the complaint filed at IP estate police station, they are worth Rs 70 crore.