State Bank of India on Wednesday announced that police and tax authorities have released ₹ 570 crore cash seized by the Election Commission four days ago, putting an end to all speculation surrounding the source of the money.
"Reference the recent incident involving the mistaken seizure of ₹ 570 crore that was being transported from the currency chest of State Bank of India’s Coimbatore main branch to SBI Special Currency Administration Branch, Visakhapatnam. SBI would like to confirm that the same has been duly released by the police and tax authorities after all verifications were made," an official statement said.
Both the police escort team and the representative from SBI presented all the necessary ID and documents whenever demanded by the State Surveillance Team (SST) officials during the entire process of verification.
Upon requests by the RBI and SBI, various authorities including the local and central observers of the Election Commission, district administration and income tax thoroughly examined all aspects as per due process of law and released the treasure after satisfying themselves about the genuineness of the transaction, it added.
On May 14, 2016, Election Commission officials belonging to the SST team caught a cash amount of ₹ 570 crore being transported in three container trucks in Tirupur district.
However, State Bank of India claimed that the cash was its own and was being sent to Visakhapatnam on the orders of the Reserve Bank of India to tide over some cash shortages. The bank said the movement of cash was is in line with RBI's Currency Management policy of moving cash from one currency chest to another where cash is needed.