The Income-Tax Department, which has so far found cash and jewellery totalling about ₹8.50 crore from the lockers maintained by a private company and the premises in Noida, is trying to determine under which rule the vault service was being provided.
Following a tip-off, the agency conducted searches on the premises of a retired Indian Police Service officer, from where the vault service was being provided. While it had 650 lockers, it is learnt that only 20 of them were currently in use. The Department officials are examining the details of the persons to whom the lockers were rented out.
The vault/locker service provided by the banks is governed by the guidelines issued from time to time by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It requires them to follow the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and adhere to other directives, including those pertaining to locker allotments and operations. The relevant State laws are also to be complied with, apart from ensuring safety of the lockers.
“It seems that there are no such specific guidelines for the safety deposit locker service offered by private companies. The RBI directions related to banks. Such services are more common in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, mostly used by traders,” said a former agency official, adding that similar cases have been reported in the past.
The agency had seized ₹12 crore from two private safety deposit vaults in Mumbai in October 2019. In January 2018, it had searched the premises of a private vault service provider in South Delhi. The basement facility had more than 100 lockers. The agency found bullion, cash and jewellery with a total value of ₹85 crore. The Department had also detected 40 kg of gold and some diamonds from a private locker during the searches on a Gurugram-based private company in 2017.
“There have been many instances wherein such private locker facilities were used by tax evaders and other unscrupulous elements,” said the official.
