The seized bags contained cheques worth crores and property documents

I-T dept sleuths question club members

BENGALURU: In a stunning search operation on Friday, documents of property valued at over Rs 500 crore and Rs 14 crore assets , including Rs 7.8-crore diamonds and gold, Rs 5.7 crore cash (Rs 3.9 crore in foreign currency) were recovered from lockers at the badminton court of Bowring Institute, an elite club, on St Mark’s Road.There were also watches of premium brands. The assets and documents were allegedly kept by real estate businessman Avinash Amarlal Kukreja , 45, in three unauthorised lockers in the club. All documents and assets were seized by Income-Tax department sleuths who are questioning him.Avinash, whose parents are into financing, has been a club member since 1993. Officials of the club, which has over 10,000 members, say his mother is a frequent visitor who plays cards with her women friends. Sources say Avinash, whose family originally hails from Rajasthan, has stakes in a noted builder group here. He reportedly gives loans to people after asking them to pledge their property documents.The incident came to light when the club management recently decided to open lockers of members who didn’t respond to repeated reminders. The management, which started breaking open 126 such lockers on Tuesday, started with those in the billiards section and found nothing much. At 1.35pm on Friday, the staff found six duffel bags in the badminton court lockers. The lockers, numbered 69, 71 and 78, were unauthorisedly used by Avinash.The club staff alerted the club secretary Srikanth, who asked them keep all the material found in his chamber and lock the room. On Satuday, Srikanth said he alerted DCP (Central) Chandragupta. “Following the DCP’s directions, Cubbon Park police station inspector Ajay Reddy came to the club. The bags were opened and we found cash and documents. We also alerted income-tax officials who came on Wednesday and sealed all six bags,” he added. On Friday, I-T department sleuths opened the bags for a detailed investigation and estimate, said Srikanth. Till Saturday evening, several teams of I-T officials made several trips to the club and questioned the members. Around 7.15pm, when TOI visited the club, there were about five I-T officials probing the matter. A spokesperson of the I-T department said he won’t be able to comment on the matter at this juncture. DCP Chandragupta wasn't available for comment.