The Satara police in Maharashtra on Sunday intercepted a private courier transport vehicle carrying gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 7.53 crore. While performing checks in view of Maharashtra Assembly elections, a police team stopped the courier vehicle at the Tasawade toll post in Satara around 5.15 pm.
The police stated that the driver presented invoices and documents related to the gold and silver ornaments being transported in the vehicle.
Soon, the Election Commission’s flying squad team, officials of the Income Tax (I-T) and Goods and Service Tax (GST) departments, and authorities of the Karad tehsil and municipal council were informed.
Meanwhile, the vehicle was taken to the Talbid police station in Satara and kept under CCTV surveillance. Government officials who reached the spot confirmed that the vehicles carried about 9.39 kilograms of gold and 60 kilograms of silver ornaments, stated a press release issued by the Satara police on Monday.
The police said the I-T department was checking the invoices for the jewellery. Sleuths of the flying squad took custody of the vehicle for further action. On October 25, while checking vehicles, a Pune city police team found gold ornaments worth 138 crore in a private van at Padmavati on the Pune-Satara road.
Police sources said that an inquiry into this case revealed that the van belonged to a private logistic company that has been legally transporting gold and diamond ornaments to different jewellers. The police also informed the EC and I-T officers. The I-T department took the van into custody to verify the gold ornaments and the documents given by the driver.
Amit Modak, CEO of P N Gadgil and Sons, a renowned jewellery company in Pune, then released a statement that a secured logistic service was transporting the gold. Modak said the van intercepted by the police carried parcels of various jewellers, including P N Gadgil and Sons. Modak clarified that the van was owned by a logistics service, which was used daily for transporting gold ornaments to various jewellers, and this was done following proper legal procedures.
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