Here’s what will happen to new currency notes seized during raids to check black money

Post demonetisation, many people have been caught hoarding black money in new currencies. About Rs 100 crore have been seized till date, mostly in wads of Rs 2, 000. Now the question is what will agencies such as Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax department and the police do with new notes?

In this regard, the ED has asked zonal units to deposit new currency notes along with all other currency seizures into bank accounts opened by the agency in different cities so that new notes are immediately brought into circulation.

ED Director Karnal Singh said that he had earlier issued a circular directing that seized currency notes be retained in strong rooms along with other seized material.

"We have been depositing these currency notes in our bank accounts so that they come into circulation and the general public is not inconvenienced," he said.

The I-T department has also been aksed ti deposit the seized currency notes in bank. Earlier, agencies kept all seized material, including cash seizures, in their strong rooms as evidence till the case was adjudicated. The seized money was then deposited into the Consolidated Fund of India, said a senior I-T official. Sometimes I-T ca ses took years to resolve, till then all seized material was kept in safe lockers of the tax department, the officer said.

Post-demonetisation, the I-T department and the ED have made huge seizures of new currency notes. Just Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have accounted for seizure of more than Rs 60 crore in new currency notes.

The ED on Monday seized Rs 47 lakh in new notes of Rs 2,000 from the owner of an educational institution in Punjab. The agency is verifying his claims that the money was deposited by students as fees. In Kolkata, the I-T department seized Rs 21 lakh in new currency notes. In two other operations since Sunday, police in Thane and Nashik seized about Rs 50 lakh in new notes of Rs 2,000 each.