CBI clarifies mystery behind ‘missing’ 103 kg gold, after HC orders probe

CBI said it had searched the building of Surana Corporation Limited in Chennai in 2012 and prepared a search list that mentioned 400.47 kg gold was inventoried and kept in safe, vaults of Surana

After the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-CID police to investigate how 103 kilos of gold seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation went missing, the investigating agency offered an explanation for the “discrepancy” in numbers.

CBI said it had searched the building of Surana Corporation Limited in Chennai in 2012 and prepared a search list that mentioned 400.47 kg gold was inventoried and kept in safe, vaults of Surana. It was sealed in the presence of independent witnesses and the MD of Surana Corporation and its officials.
Madras HC orders police to investigate 103 kg gold missing from CBI custody

News agency ANI quoted the agency as saying: “As per directions of High Court vaults were opened in presence of official liquidator, officials belonging to six banks and independent witnesses to hand over gold to lender banks of Surana Corporation. Seals affixed on vaults were intact. However, gold weighed only 296.66 kgs.”

As the discrepancy between quantity mentioned in search memo & as per weight came to notice, CBI ordered an internal inquiry by senior officer to look into role of its officials, if any. It's clarified that the inventoried gold was kept in premises of Surana only under seal: CBI

— ANI (@ANI) December 12, 2020

The CBI has also claimed that the gold bars were weighed together during the seizure, but was weighed individually while handing over to the liquidator appointed for a settlement of debts between Surana and SBI. Which is why it appeared as though gold worth crores had gone missing, the agency explained.