Gopalganj: The Excise department officials here on Saturday seized a whopping Rs 3 crore in cash during vehicle check at the Balthari check post. The officials also took two people into custody while the interrogation to extract further details. The preliminary investigation has revealed that the money was being taken from Lucknow to Siliguri.
Shedding light on the confiscation, Excise Department Superintendent Rakesh Kumar said, "Our team was regularly checking vehicles for liquor smuggling. All the vehicles coming from UP were being searched, among which was this car that the officers just checked on the basis of suspicion at the Balthari check post in Kuchaykot. We were not expecting to find money in it. But the officials recovered Rs 3 crore cash hidden in a compartment made in the trunk of the car." He further added that the Income Tax officials have also been alerted about this, while further information regarding the seized money is yet to be ascertained.
The two people detained in the matter have been identified as Rakesh and Mukesh, both residents of Bikaner in Rajasthan. During the interrogation, Rakesh said that he was told to drive the vehicle to Siliguri in West Bengal by a Lucknow-based smuggler and that he had no idea what was in the car.
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