Deposit seized gold & cash with treasury in 10 days, cops told

NAGPUR: Chief Judicial Magistrate (

CJM

) Ratnakar Salgaonkar has issued a notification to city and rural

police

to deposit all the

gold

and

cash

seized during

investigation

with the court

treasury

within ten days.


The directions came after the CJM noted several irregularities by the police department while handling seized items.

There are several cases

pending

before the court because police officials ‘misplaced’ items which were seized during investigation. Taking cognisance of the irregularities, the CJM issued a seven-point notice to the police department on how to handle seized items.

The CJM also pointed out that if the seized cash is not deposited with the treasury then the owner may suffer loss of interest.

In the notification, CJM also pointed out that cash in denomination of Rs500 and Rs1,000 seized before the demonetization drive was not exchanged by several police stations. It means that post-demonetization, the currency lying with the police department is of no value, noted CJM.

There are also several private bank accounts in which the seized cash was kept by the police. The money was meant to be deposited with the court’s treasury. The money in accounts of private banks raises many a question, the CJM observed.

CJM has also directed cops to deposit all the cash seized in the cases which are under investigation or cases in which the chargsheet has been filed or cases which will be registered in the future within ten days.

In the cases which are pending before court, the amount deposited by both the parties must be kept in a fix deposit rather than keeping it without earning interest.

To avoid any swap of metals, the CJM wants the police department to take seized metals such as gold to the goldsmith, get it verified and also make a certificate which can be later attached to the

case

file.