Chennai police seize Rs 1.02 crore in demonetised notes, two held
This comes two days ahead of the deadline available for NRIs for exchanging defunct currencies of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.
CHENNAI: The city police on Wednesday caught two persons with demonetised currencies worth nearly one crore rupees.
This comes two days ahead of the deadline available for NRIs for exchanging defunct currencies of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.
It was a patrol team that noticed something amiss about a black car in which the duo was travelling up and down the first main road at Shenoy Nagar, Aminjikarai, on Wednesday evening. “They kept driving through the same stretch more than twice, raising suspicion. When asked to stop, they tried to speed away. After a brief chase, police nabbed the suspects,” said a senior police officer.
The police seized Rs 1.02 crore - Rs 86 lakh in Rs 1,000 currencies and Rs 16 lakh in Rs 500 denomination - in a black bag in the car’s rear seat.
During interrogation, the men, Ramesh and Vijaykumar, were said to have told police that the money belonged to a businessman of Tambaram. They were to meet a broker and exchange the currencies near a school at Shenoy Nagar. “Fearing they might get caught while waiting at one place, these two men were roaming around awaiting the broker’s arrival”, the officer said.
Interrogation revealed they were into sand and gravel business. Ramesh of Salem resides at Saligramam and Vijaykumar of Pollachi, stays at Mogappair.
A case has been registered and police have launched a hunt for the broker and the businessman.
This is the latest in a series of such incidents, including the one on March 25 when two persons were detained while trying to exchange Rs 3.42 crore demonetised notes at Manapakkam near Nandambakkam.
It was later found the money belonged to a well-known doctor in the city.
In an earlier incident, three men were waiting in a van to meet a resident of JJ Nagar to exchange defunct notes when they were nabbed by a patrol team.
