Thaindian News

Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation has recovered a virtual treasure trove, including a silver brick and gold and diamond jewellery from arrested Income Tax Commissioner R.P. Meena, an official said here Saturday.

Meena - IT Commissioner (Appeals) - was nabbed red-handed last week while accepting a bribe and was Saturday sent to further police custody till July 21.

During the investigations, the CBI sleuths have come across seven bank accounts in the name of Meena and his family members with a total deposit of Rs.1.50 million in them.

In an interesting revelation, the CBI said that Meena had invested his ill-gotten money with Satish Panchariya, director of Alka India Ltd, which is a huge investor for the prominent film-making company, K. Sera Sera Films.

Since Panchariya panicked and is absconding since Meena’s arrest, the CBI has sealed the office premises of Alka India Ltd at Crystal Plaza, near Versova, Andheri (north-west Mumbai).

A locker with UCO Bank, Dausa, Rajasthan, which was opened by the CBI brought out over a kilo of gold jewellery and a silver brick weighing more than 1.33 kg, besides diamond jewellery.

Meena had also invested Rs.6.50 lakh in fixed deposits, around Rs.4.50 lakh in a public provident fund (PPF) account and Rs.60,000 in shares.

Meena also owned one plot and two houses in Dausa, a plot in Jaipur and a fully furnished flat in Dwarka area of New Delhi.

Although the property documents have undervalued and put the value of the flat in Dwarka, purchased last year, at only Rs.3 million, the CBI said that current market rate for such a fully furnished flat is in the range of Rs.10 million.

The CBI has also questioned three chartered accountants who revealed that a total amount of Rs.2.50 lakh was paid to Meena early this month to secure favourable orders for their clients.