The Times of India has reported that the cash of more than Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that mysteriously disappeared from Dimapur on Tuesday after being flown in by a chartered flight resurfaced on Wednesday (November 23) in an equally dramatic manner.The disappeared Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes was seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland.
(File photo for representative use)
While officials suspect that it could be part of a big money laundering racket, what is politically significant that, as the Nagaland police chief, L L Doungel told the newspaper, "The money, seized by the CISF, was handed over to officials of the income tax department. They handed it over to the claimant, Naga businessman Anato Zhimomi, after he produced an I-T exemption certificate." This businessman, Zhimomi – is none less than the son-in-law of Neiphiu Rio, the sole Lok Sabha member from the state – and has reportedly been arrested. Rio backs the BJP government at the Centre, the Modi government led by the BJP.
With thge Supreme Court being seized of the matter, and citizens before it demanding an independent probe into not just the decision of de-monetization, but the alleged nexus between the favoured few of this government in terms of access to notes and note exchanges, this episode and investigation could assume significance. As importantly is the fact that the Opposition in Parliament, too has demanded that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be appointed to go into every aspect of the issue.
Income tax and intelligence officials in the national capital suspect that the Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped currency notes seized from a chartered flight in Nagaland could be part of a big money laundering racket, with the masterminds exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast and non-existent security at smaller airports. Is there, then, the possibility of a nexus between the Centre and this racket?
A probe by the I-T department revealed that some businessmen, including the Gurgaon-based owner of a printing and packaging firm, allegedly roped in Anato Zhimomi, who claimed the seized money after producing an I-T exemption certificate, and took advantage of the absence of security at a small airfield in Hisar to haul at least Rs 11 crore in outlawed denominations of 500 and 1,000 to Dimapur by a chartered plane.
The money thus ferried was deposited into the account of Anato, the son-in-law of three-time Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, the sole representative in the Lok Sabha from the state who backs the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. Anato's father Khekiho Zhimomi served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from the Naga People's Front party.
Exploiting Tax Exemotions for Tribals in the North-East? Nexus with Centre?
Investigators are speculating on whether the masterminds might be exploiting tax exemptions for tribals in the northeast and non-existent security at smaller airports.
Yesterday’s TOI had reported that Central intelligence and income tax agencies are grappling with a peculiar situation with Rs 3.5 crore of cash in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes "vanishing" after being seized on a private chartered flight at Dimapur in Nagaland. The cash was seized by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Dimapur after a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau and the local income tax staff was summoned to take further action with regard to the unaccounted wealth.
But to the surprise of CISF personnel, the cash disappeared and the local I-T officer is understood to have claimed that it had been with the security personnel all along. CISF officers who had alerted their headquarters about the seizure were shocked, but could do little as the I-T officer insisted he had nothing to do with the cash.
CISF, which does not have the power to carry out arrests, has reported the matter to IB and Central Board of Direct Taxes.
The plane's "main passenger" was one Amarjit Kumar Singh, a businessman from Bihar who was carrying the cash. The flight VTCP, which had taken off from Hisar in Haryana, was sent back to New Delhi. A source said Singh told CISF that "someone big" in Delhi had allegedly sent the cash for a Naga businessman. He also named another Naga businessman. The aircraft landed in Dimapur with Singh and an unidentified woman among those on board.
he exemption is not unique to Nagaland. STs in North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong, Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District in Assam, Jaintia and Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura are exempted from income tax subject to certain conditions.
Dimapur deputy commissioner of income tax A Kitto Zhimomi refused to comment on the haul. He said only the CBDT was authorized to talk to the media.