The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) today seized nearly ₹49 crore worth of cash in demonetised ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes from the premises of a company in the GIDC area here.
“Acting on specific intelligence, the officers of DRI, Surat, assisted by officers of CGST at Vadodara raided the premises of M/s Yamuna Building Material at GIDC Panoli in Bharuch and recovered demonetised currency notes of ₹1000 and ₹500 of face value of ₹48.91 crore,” the DRI said in a release.
The company faces a fine of ₹245 crore as per the newly-enacted Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, the release said.
Section 5 of the Act bars any person from knowingly or voluntarily, holding, transferring or receiving any specified bank note after the expiry of grace period.
Section 7 of the Act lays down that whoever contravenes the provisions of section 5 of the Act shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher.
“In this case, with the demonetised currency detected by the DRI being in the order of about ₹49 crore, the fine is expected to touch about ₹245 crore,” it said.
The DRI said that a complaint was being filed in the court against three persons and further investigation was on.