Take possession of Rs 13lakh cash from Kamrej cops: Gujarat HC to IT dept

The Gujarat high court, in a recent order, allowed the Income Tax Department to seize Rs 13 lakh cash from the possession of Kamrej Police. It also allowed the department to continue proceedings against the original complainant under the Income Tax Act.

Original complainant Shaukatali Imamhussain Shaikh had lodged a complaint with the Kamrej police station of a robbery at his residence, in which cash, of around Rs 13 lakh, was robbed. During the investigation, the police recovered the cash from the accused and later, the investigation officer, had written a letter to the Income Tax department requesting to take the cash in possession and inquire the matter.

The I-T department had moved an application before the Judicial Magistrate First Class pleading to hand over the cash to the petitioner for investigation. However, the plea was rejected. Hence, the department had approached the high court with a prayer to allow it to take the possession and allow the investigation under the IT Act.

Single bench Justice JB Pardiwala, while quashing JMFC court's order, directed the department to put the said cash as fixed deposit with a nationalised bank for first two years and if the investigation was not over, the FD could be continued to renew the FD in future. Court also directed the IT department to carry out panchnama of the currency notes with its serial number and, during this time, a videography of it should be made.