Bhubaneswar: A day after Chhattisgarh police seized Rs 10.90 crore from a car in Mahasamund district, Odisha DGP RP Sharma on Wednesday said the Economic Offences Wing of Odisha Crime Branch will probe the matter at the local level.
The car was supposedly headed from Cuttack to Agra.
“We’ve been informed by Chhattisgarh police that the car carrying four persons had left from Cuttack,” the DGP said. “We are trying to ascertain the identity of the person who gave them the money and the purpose.”
Sources said the car was intercepted about 80km from Raipur during random vehicle checking in view of the upcoming general elections. The money – in denominations of Rs 2,000, Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 – was concealed in a redesigned rear seat, resembling a cash locker.
“We had stopped the car for routine inquiry but the activities of its occupants raised suspicion,” Mahasamund SP Santosh Kumar Singh said. “We checked the car and found the locker with the huge stash.”
The four occupants were identified as Banwari Singh (40), Prahlad Baghel (30), Mohammed Ibrahim Khan (45) and his wife Najma Khan (35), all residents of Agra. “They were trying to deceive the police, saying they were a family, and get past the checking,” the SP said.
It took six hours for the personnel to count the entire amount, the SP said, adding that the quartet left Cuttack on February 17 in the car which has an Uttar Pradesh registration number.
