Junked notes worth Rs 49 cr seized, 3 held

In one of the largest seizures of scrapped notes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized Rs 49 crore worth demonetised currency notes from a Panoli-based building material supplier. 

It took the DRI team 24 hours to count the currency notes, which they accomplished with the help of a team from the State Bank of India.

Speaking to media persons, DRI officials said that acting on intelligence inputs, its Surat team raided the premises of Yamuna building at GIDC in Panoli, Bharuch, on Friday, and found the demontised currency notes stashed in a  room. 

DRI officials said some eight lakh currency notes have been seized that included 5.37 lakh notes of Rs 500 denomination and 2.21 lakh Rs 1,000 notes; the notes were stashed in small bags stored in one of the rooms.

According to the primary investigation, the trader’s family had bought the notes at 8 to 16 per cent exchange rate. The three arrested have been identified as Suresh, Labhu and Kanti Zalawadia, all from one family.

Refusing to divulge more information, DRI officers said they were investigating further — whether there is a narcotics or hawala racket involved.

Officials said it would be premature to say who was behind this as the accused had not revealed any information about sellers or whether more people were involved. 

DRI officials said it has sought the help of RBI to verify whether these were genuine or fake notes. 

The currency is currently in the DRI’s possession.

All three were produced before the judicial magistrate court of Surat.