Tamil Nadu: Gold worth Rs 45 cr goes missing from CBI custody, Madras High Court orders probe

12-12-2020

In a curious incident reported from Tamil Nadu, over 103 kilograms of gold seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has gone missing from its custody. The estimated value of the yellow metal is said to be around 45 crores. The matter came to light when the Madras High Court ordered a probe into the missing gold. The state CB-CID has been asked to probe the matter. According to a report in Times of India, the missing gold was part of the 400.5kg of bullion and ornaments seized by CBI during a raid at the office of Surana Corporation Ltd in Chennai in 2012. The gold was kept under CBI's custody at safes and vaults of Surana Corp. The central investigative agency maintains that it had given the 72 keys of safes and vaults to Chennai Principal Special Court for CBI cases. In its explanation to the court, the central agency gave a bizarre response saying the gold bars were weighed all together during the seizure. However, when it was handed over to the liquidator, the gold was weighed individually and that was the reason for the discrepancy. In this case, the liquidator was appointed to settle the debts between Surana and the State Bank of India. The Madras High Court rejected the CBI's contention and ordered a probe by a CB-CID officer with the rank of SP. The court has asked the CB-CID to finish the probe within six months. The CBI told the court that its 'prestige' would be at stake if the matter is probed by local police. To this, the HC said, "The law does not sanction such an inference and all policemen must be trusted and it does not lie in the mouth of one to say that CBI have special horns where local police have only a tail."