The Jaipur Police were looking into the source of money after the recovery of unclaimed cash amounting to ₹2.31 crore and gold bars weighing 1 kg from the basement of Yojana Bhawan here on Friday night. The cash and gold was found in an almirah in the building, which houses Planning, Information Technology and several other departments.
The cupboard from which the cash and gold was recovered had been locked for several months. Since its key was lost, it was broken open during an exercise for scanning and digitisation of physical files and papers as part of an e-file project of the Department of Information Technology.
Jaipur Police Commissioner Anand Srivastava said seven employees of Yojana Bhawan having access to the basement had been detained for interrogation. Investigation has started to find out whose money it was and how did it come to the almirah, while the CCTV footage of the area was being scanned.
The cash in the denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500 was found in a trolley suitcase kept in the cupboard. The gold bars were also kept in the suitcase, Mr. Srivastava said, adding that the cupboard in question was one of the two whose keys had been lost. Files pertaining to Aadhaar-UID were found in the other almirah.
The Opposition BJP targeted the Congress government in the matter and said the recovery of the huge amount of cash and gold in a government building had proved that corruption was rampant among the officials. Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Rajendra Rathore asked why agencies like Anti-Corruption Bureau and Enforcement Directorate were not involved in the investigation.
Deputy Leader of Opposition Satish Poonia wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his direction to the State government to hand over the probe to a Central agency to ensure an impartial investigation and punishment to the guilty persons.
