ED recovers Rs 30 lakh, 2.5 kg gold from premises of tailor in Punjab, Chandigarh

Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate has recovered about Rs 30 lakh cash and 2.5 kg gold from the premises of a prominent tailor here as part of its operation to unearth illegal cash. The seizure comes three days after ED officials recovered Rs 2.19 crore cash from a cloth merchant here. Acting on tip off, the sleuths of ED swooped down on the premises of Maharaja Tailor in Mohali (Punjab) and at sector 22 in Chandigarh here. The seizure included Rs 18 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination and while the rest was in Rs 100 and 50 denominations, ED official said here today. The ED sleuths said that they were verifying how the notes were exchanged and from whom, the owners of the shop bought the gold. Officials were examining the bill books of the shop. The owners of the tailoring shop had allegedly bought 2.5 kg gold at a rate of Rs 44,000 per 10 gram after demonetisation, they said. Investigations were underway, ED officials said. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Police had arrested a senior bank employee of a private bank in Mohali for allegedly providing new currency to cloth merchant Inderpal Mahajan on commission basis. ED had seized Rs 2.19 crore including Rs 17.74 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination, Rs 12,500 in Rs 500 denomination from the house of Mahajan on December 14.