S Ramalingam, the Tamil Nadu-based trader who was recently caught by the I-T Department with US treasury bonds worth $5 billion (around Rs 27,000 crore), declined to reveal where he got those bonds from.

Declining to share details, Ramalingam said, "Till the time this issue (the probe by the I-T department) is over, I will not be able to share anything."

However, he emphasized that he was confident that he would come out clean.

Ramalingam, 46, is known as a groundnut businessman who owns merely 2 acres of land and a petrol pump in Upputhariapalayam. However, the Class X dropout businessman made numerous foreign trips. When I-T officials raided his home on the night of December 31, he was on a world tour.

Besides international treasury bonds worth Rs 27,000 crore, the officials seized laptops, mobile phone and other several other confidential documents from Ramalingam's house.

Ramalingam attracted I-T department's attention after he deposited more than Rs 3,000 crore to make a bid for setting up a crude oil refinery in Cuddalore.

Investigator say NRIs gave him the money to invest in the India markets. However, some officials believe that the treasury bonds could be phony.