Musaddilal Jewellers managing director Kailash Chand Gupta and his brother-in-law were arrested and sent to Chanchalguda jail on judicial remand on Wednesday for allegedly fraudulently trying to ‘launder’ money.
Earlier this month, the IT department had raided the store of Musaddilal jewellers at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad and found out that about Rs 97 crore had been allegedly deposited into bank accounts of the store fraudulently.
According to reports, the store owner allegedly created fake bills and showed that around 5,200 people had purchased gold at the store within an hour after demonetisation.
Most names were suspected to be fictitious, as even customers named 'Baahubali' had entered the shop to purchase gold, according to the bills.
"The accused claims that several other jewellers too have been doing the same for a long time and accuses others of doing illegal sale of gold after demonetisation," TNIE quoted a police officer as saying.
Citing this case, ED sources also told TOI that "We noticed that efforts were made to erase CCTV footage in the jeweller's shop. When we verified CCTV footage of neighbouring shops, there is no record of customers entering Musaddilal jewellers that night."
Speaking to the media, Deputy commissioner of police (CCS) Avinash Mohanty said that the owner, Kailash Chand Gupta and his brother-in-law Narender Kumar then deposited the money at SBI, Panjagutta branch and Axis Bank, Banjara Hills branch.
“Consequent to IT raids on residence of the accused and registration of criminal cases against them, Narender Kumar provided shelter to Kailash Chand Gupta at his residence at Manikonda and at his factory at Auto Nagar. He did not divulge Gupta's hideout to police to evade arrest,” a police officer was quoted as saying.