Seized 160 kg gold given back to owner

Chandigarh: The 160 kg of gold, which was seized during high-stakes Punjab Assembly polls, has been released to its owner on the directions of a Mohali court, police said today.

“The Mohali court passed directions yesterday to release the gold after the owner was asked to furnish a surety bond of Rs 10 crore,” Sohana police station, SHO Pawan Kumar said.

“After furnishing surety bond, the gold has been released to Hamirpur-based Prabhat Chowdhary who is the owner of yellow metal,” he said.

In one of the biggest seizure during polls, Punjab Police had recovered 160 kg of gold, worth about Rs 21 crore, from a vehicle at a checkpoint near Bakharpur Chowk under Sohana police station in Mohali district in the night of January 17.

Without proper documents, the raw gold was being taken to Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh from Delhi in a car, the police had claimed.

Besides seizing the gold, the police had arrested the three occupants of the car.

A case was registered under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) in this regard.

Punjab recorded total seizure of drugs, illegal liquor, cash, and other items worth Rs 127 crore, including gold and silver worth Rs 26.14 crore, during the Assembly polls.