Mumbai: In a major operation, Income Tax department has seized a huge amount of cash, diamonds and jewellery valued in crores from a private bus at Mumbai Central railway station and is further conducting investigations to unearth any tax evasion.

The department sleuths were on watch for "suspicious" movement of consignments headed for Ahmedabad and caught the "parcels" on July 21 night from the bus which was being escorted by armed guards, IT department officials said today (Jul 23, 2004).

Prima facie, these parcels contain huge amount of cash, diamonds and jewellery and the department is currently involved in making valuation and examine the tax liabilities, the officials said. The armed guards and the courier firms (angadias) involved in the multi-crore transfer of consignments were being questioned, they added.

Over eight courier firms (angadias) were involved in transporting such consignments, they said.

The seizure and investigations are being conducted simultaneously and a clear picture is expected to emerge next week, they added.

The parcels with proper documentation and tax payments would be released in due course and those without papers would be pursued for thorough investigations, they said.