Haryana probes cash transfer from Hisar to Dimapur

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“I have given directions to the Superintendent of Police, Hisar, to probe the incident and submit a detailed report. If anybody is found on the wrong side of law, he shall be taken to task. But first we need to find out if there was any cognizable offence. Carrying Rs 3.5 crore currency is not a crime if the carrier can prove the source of the funds. Of course, it becomes a case of inquiry for the Income Tax and even the Enforcement Directorate,” said O P Singh, Police Commissioner, Hisar range.

“We learnt about the incident only after the cash was seized in Dimapur. If we had prior information about such a huge amount of cash being transported from Hisar, we could have seized it and called the Income Tax people to verify if it was legitimate. We are verifying the facts. All those involved shall be questioned… if an offence is made out, we shall act as per law. We learnt that a Nagaland-based businessman has already accepted ownership of the cash and even showed some documents to the Income Tax department,” said SP (Hisar) S K Meena.

The man who chartered the flight has been identified as Amarjit Singh, a resident of Bihar.

According to sources, the Intelligence Bureau’s wing in Haryana received inputs about a man booking a chartered flight to Dimapur. They learnt that the man was carrying a huge amount of cash. A team of IB officials reached the Hisar aviation club at about 10:30 am on Tuesday. However, they learnt that the flight had left for Dimapur at 7:40 am. Aviation Club officials reportedly told IB officials that Singh was carrying heavy bags.

The IB officials then passed on the information to their counterparts in Dimapur. Further inquiries revealed that Singh had arrived in Hisar from New Delhi by road on Monday night. Police are looking for an Audi car, bearing a Gurgaon registration number, which reportedly dropped off Singh at the Hisar airstrip.

According to IB sources, Singh had taken another chartered flight from Hisar to Dimapur on November 13. He was accompanied by a person identified as V Sharma. However, there were no confirmed reports on whether they carried currency notes on that flight too.

Haryana Police sources said Singh had an authority letter purportedly issued by Anato K Zhimomi, a resident of Dimapur, certifying that the cash belonged to him. This letter, along with other documents, is being verified. The letter listed two mobile phone numbers for Zhimomi.

The Indian Express called up these numbers to get his version. While one number went unanswered, the other was answered by a man who identified himself as Vivek. “I do not know any Anato. I am a resident of Jharkhand and run a start-up. I have been using this number for the last 10 years or so,” he said.

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Capt Sandeep Saraf, owner of Shaurya Aeronautics which provided a maintenance certificate to the aircraft which carried the cash, said, “We had no role to play… We are basically mechanics. Our job is only to check the fitness of the aircraft and then hand over the clearance certificate to the pilot… The pilot of the aircraft was a foreigner, but certified by DGCA. The aircraft is owned by a company called Club One. The police have also made inquiries, and I have told them that we have nothing to do with any such cash transaction.”

Haryana Police sources said Zhimomi has some business interests in Haryana and Punjab, in warehousing and solar power equipments. “We are finding out the exact details about such businesses,” said a senior police officer.