May 18, 2016: SBI got a clean chit on Tuesday after the Income Tax Investigation Officials probe detention of three trucks in Tirupur with Rs. 570 crore cash that belongs to State Bank of India clearing it of any ”misdeeds” or ”wrongful act”. The clean chit came only after the IT team led by the Joint Director of Investigation wing N Senthil Kumar while the SBI Authorities response was the mark of satisfaction.
The IT Officials said during the investigation that the cash belongs to State Bank of India and the the cash belonging to Reserve Bank of India was being diverted. The incident took place unfortunately during the election when the officials was up on cash transfers to curb money distribution to voters.
The Election Commission was not informed regarding the huge money transfer and the State bank of India is delaying in claiming ownership of the money, an IT Official said.
As per the Income Tax Department is concerned there was no violation in rules. However, SBI Authorities delayed in responding immediately after the three trucks loaded with huge cash were detained by the Income Tax officials in Tirupur. Later, after 18 hour delay, the SBI Authorities responded with a convincing response that since it is holiday and some of their staffs have gone out of station to cast a vote, the authorities were not available for the immediate response claiming the ownership.
The Income Tax Department wanted to know why the Bank authorities did not provide proper documentation to the Cash Transfer Convoy Personnel. It is seen that the bank authorities accompanying the trucks have only some parts of the documents and hence failed to possess the necessary documents when the trucks were detained by the IT Officials.
IT officials said, ”since the issue have reached the level to the Union Finance Ministry as the team have left no stone unturned in trying to untie all aspects of the cash transfers”.
The officials of SBI and RBI came to before the Income Tax Department to give their statements regarding the details of the cash transfer. For every process there is no direct deficiency rules and regulations which was laid down by the RBI has been followed, said the senior SBI official.
The IT teams said that the Physical counting and verification of the currency is on the process. It is expected that the verification and counting of the currency will be soon completed anytime, said the official.
However, there are some questions which are still unanswered as to why did the Cash Transfer Convoy personnel took the service road when these three trucks were detained by the IT Dept. in Tirupur.
Rajagopal, senior SBI Assistant General Manager told TOI that the trucks wanted to refuel. If the trucks did not stop when interrupted by the election officials, it is inquisitive that the trucks would stop at some ordinary fuel station.
