Patna, Dec. 17: The income tax department has recommended a CBI probe into deposits of several crores of rupees in the bank accounts of some residents of Gaya, including textile trader Motilal Patwa, after demonetisation.

Income tax director (investigation) Ashok Kumar Sinha said today that the decision to hand over the probe to the CBI was taken following suspicion of large-scale irregularities in the deposit of unaccounted money in bank accounts of the Gaya residents. A few of the accounts were opened in gross violation of norms, he added.

Sources said Patwa had stashed over Rs 200 crore in 50 bank accounts, some of them suspicious, with the Gautam Buddha Road branch of Bank of India in Gaya town. Patwa, a resident of Manpura locality in Gaya town, had deposited the money shortly after the demonetisation announcement of November 8.

Tax officials believe that Patwa, who owns Moti Textiles and Cotton Private Limited in Gaya town, around 100km south of Patna, had helped over 35 people, including his two drivers, a rickshaw puller and eight other employees, open their bank accounts in the said branch of the bank. All the bank accounts were operated by Patwa himself.

On Tuesday, tax officials from Patna conducted simultaneous raids on the business and residential premises of Patwa besides the bank.

The officials were stunned to find that a sum of Rs 1.4 crore had been deposited in the bank account of one Suresh Kumar, a rickshaw-puller of Gaya. Similarly, they found that Rs 2 crore each had been deposited in the bank accounts of Sudama Singh and Bhikhari Prasad - both employees of Patwa.

The tax officials got more suspicious when Ruby Kumari, an account holder with the bank, denied that she had deposited Rs 3.5 crore in her account. Shashi Kumar, a resident of Manpura locality, also feigned ignorance about transaction of about Rs 3 crore in his account and those of his two brothers - Shailesh Kumar and Rajnish Kumar.

A senior tax official in Patna said that five persons lodged separate FIRs against Patwa and bank officials with the Mufassil police station in Gaya based on their statements.

In another operation, National Investigation Agency officials from Delhi, with the help of the customs, reportedly seized Rs 32 crore in new currency during a raid near Raxaul close to the India-Nepal border in East Champaran district on Friday. No official confirmation could be obtained.