A special court handed over Rs. 30.35 lakh in cash, Rs. 21 lakh as interest, passport and a car key belonging to Serena of Anbu Nagar, Tahsildar Nagar here, who was allegedly involved in a narcotic smuggling case in 2003.
The Karuppayoorani police had intercepted a car and seized 30 kg of ganja, Rs. 1.40 crore in cash and 21 sovereigns of gold from the car and arrested Serena, her mother Rameeza Banu, and car driver Satish. However, a court acquitted the accused in 2006.
Following this, Serena approached the court seeking that the properties seized from her by the police at the time of her arrest be returned. However, the Department of Income Tax raised objections and moved the court that the money could be released only after payment of tax.
Serena had sought relief from the Madras High Court Bench here which directed the special court to release the properties as per law.
The special court judge (holding additional charge) Pandurangan handed over the properties in the presence of her advocates Kanagaraj and Chandrasekar on Wednesday after deduction of income tax.
