Gold, silver &firearms among items seized from treasury dept staffer's house

The case was being transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for further investigation, a release from the Anantapuramu district Superintendent of Police B S Yesubabu said. According to the SP, the gold, silver, cash and bonds were stashed in eight trunk boxes in the house of one Balappa in Bukkarayasamudram village.

In a major haul, gold, silver, cash, Fixed Deposit bonds, promissory notes, firearms and expensive automobiles, allegedly belonging to a treasury department staffer, was seized from a house in Anantapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh, police said on Wednesday. The case was being transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for further investigation, a release from the Anantapuramu district Superintendent of Police B S Yesubabu said.

According to the SP, the gold, silver, cash and bonds were stashed in eight trunk boxes in the house of one Balappa in Bukkarayasamudram village. The cache contained three .9 mm pistols, 18 blank rounds of ammunition, an airgun, 2.42 kg of gold, 84.10 kg of silver, Rs 15,55,560 in cash, Fixed Deposit and National Savings Scheme receipts for Rs 49.10 lakh and promissory notes for Rs 27.05 lakh.

Two cars, six bikes, including a high end one, a scooter and four tractors were also seized. A team comprising four sub-divisional police officers and other officials conducted the searches in the house on a tip-off on Tuesday night.

"During the course of our investigation, it has been established that the seized property belonged to Gajula Manoj Kumar, a senior auditor in the Treasury Department. He stashed the items in the house belonging to Balappa, father-in-law of Manoj Kumars driver Nagalingam,"the SP said.

Manoj Kumar secured appointment as a junior assistant in the Treasury Department on compassionate grounds in 2005 after his father, a police head constable, died. A case under Section 102 Cr P C has been registered in relation to the seizure.

Yesubabu said the case was being transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for further investigation.