Kishanganj (Bihar): The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 1.45 kg of gold biscuits worth Rs 1.02 crore from Marwari Yuva Manch president Dinesh Pareek and two others in West Bengal's Siliguri. The three accused were arrested and Rs 82 lakh was recovered from them. They were produced in Siliguri ACJM court from where they were sent to jail.
DRI officials said that acting on intelligence input of gold smuggling in Siliguri, the team of officials intercepted one of the accused who had come to deliver gold biscuits to Dinesh and his friend. DRI advocate Ratan Banik said after receiving the tipoff, DRI formed several teams and waited for the smugglers in different parts.
Bidubhushan Rai, a resident of West Bengal's Cooch Behar was arrested from Siliguri Junction area and taken to the local office of DRI in College Para. On searching him, 12 gold biscuits were recovered from under his belt.
During interrogation, Bidubhushan told that he had brought the gold biscuits from Cooch Behar to Siliguri for delivering it to Dinesh, resident of Mahaveer Marg Piyaz Patti Road in Bihar's Kishanganj and his friend, Manoj Sinha, resident of Alta Kamalpur of Kochadhaman. Both Parekh and his friend were coming from Bihar to Siliguri in a Maruti Wagon-R car to collect the gold, the accused told.
After which, the DRI team reached Jalapai Mode in Siliguri, where the delivery was planned, along with the arrested accused. Dinesh and Manoj were found waiting in the car and were taken into custody.
The two were brought to the DRI office while a mechanic was called for thoroughly checking the car. During which, Rs 82 lakh was found hidden in a box concealed under the car's back. Dinesh and Manoj were then arrested.
During interrogation, Bidubhushan told that the gold biscuits had been smuggled from Bangladesh to Siliguri via Cooch Behar and Dinesh and Manoj were supposed to collect the gold in exchange of money.
"The three arrested accused were presented in the Siliguri ACJM court, from where they have been sent to jail. Dinesh is the president of Kishanganj Marwari Yuva Manch and has reportedly been involved in gold smuggling for a long time. He used to carry smuggled gold in his vehicle," Ratan Banik, DRI advocate said.
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