Chennai, Dec. 9 (PTI): The Income Tax department has seized at least Rs 106 crore in cash, including Rs 10 crore in new currency, and 127 kg gold bars in searches at multiple locations in the city to check tax evasion after demonetisation.

This is the largest seizure of new currency notes after the old 500- and 1,000- rupee notes were scrapped on November 8.

The IT operation had been launched on Thursday here.

Contractor S. Reddy, working with the state government, has claimed the entire money and the gold as his own and is being questioned, Officials said.

The gold was in 1 kg bars.

"This is an unprecedented amount that the tax department has seized in recent times," tax officials said.

The department carried out the searches based on intelligence inputs about the activities of Reddy and few others for the last few days.

Officials said the agency was investigating how the new notes in such a large quantity were stashed by the individual. The bundles of the new Rs 2,000 had no banking slips on them.

They said the IT teams had launched operations on at least eight locations of a “syndicate” involved in currency conversion.

The officials said a number of documents related to financial transactions, entries of gold sale and records of sale/purchase have also been seized by the tax sleuths.

At least three people of the alleged syndicate are being questioned while few others are under the radar, they said.

”He (Reddy) is a contractor working with the state government. He is claiming the entire cash and gold to be his own. Further probe is on,” they said.

The IT department will share the case details with the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation for further probe into money laundering and corruption angles.

Some bank officials are also under the scanner of the taxman.