Old notes worth Rs 3.5-cr go missing after seizure from private jet in Dimapur

A chartered flight from Haryana’s Hisar landed at Dimapur airport in Nagaland at 10:07am on Tuesday with Rs 3.5 crore in scrapped 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on board.

However, the money — seized from a passenger by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Income Tax officials — went missing before the flight took off for Delhi two hours later. The passenger, identified as one Amarjit Singh from Munger in Bihar, left by the flight.

There were reports that the relatives of an influential Nagaland politician collected the cash but the local police have launched a probe into the “missing cash”.

Dimapur airport officials said the CISF received a call in the morning alerting them about a man flying in with huge cash. “Income Tax department was tipped off after the airport’s chief security officer received the call from higher officials. The taxmen checked the bag of the passenger after the plane landed, and seized Rs 3.5 crore,” airport director M Zhimo told Hindustan Times.

Liremo Lotha, Dimapur police commissioner, said they were probing how the cash vanished. “We are trying to find out who gave the cash – all in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 – to whom and under what provision. We have also summoned the CISF personnel and Income Tax officials concerned for questioning,” he said.

“The CISF said one Anato had claimed the money but we have to check,” Lotha said.

Eyewitnesses identified Anato as a businessman and son-in-law of former Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, now a Lok Sabha member representing Naga People’s Front, which is an ally of the BJP.

A chartered flight had landed in Dimapur airport on November 13 too.