Rs 25 crore in old notes recovered by Meerut police

In one of the biggest-ever currency hauls since demonetization, the police in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district recovered Rs 25 crore from a flat in Raj Kamal Enclave in the district.

The old currency notes in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations were kept in 10 gunny bags at a flat belonging to a prominent builder in Raj Kamal Enclave Colony, Partapaur on Delhi Road. A deal of changing the old currency into new was on when the police raided the flat and recovered Rs 25 crores. Four persons were arrested while the builder Sanjeev Mittal managed to escape

On a tip-off that old currency notes were being changed to new for a commission ranging from 15 to 25% was on in Meerut district, a team of police was keeping a surveillance on the flat and the activities of the builder for the last 10 days.

On Friday when police saw some movement in the otherwise deserted flat it raided the premises recovering the old currency in gunny bags and arresting four people. Those arrested included an agent from Delhi Naresh Agrawal.

The arrested persons revealed that the builder Sanjeev Mittal was involved in changing demonetized currency into new by charging hefty commissions through his links in the local banks. Besides Mittal, the Meerut SSP Manzil Saini did not rule involvement of bank officials in the racket.

“We are further interrogating arrested persons and trying to arrest the builder to get to know more about the modus operandi of the gang running the racket. Some of the bank officials may also be involved in it,” said the SSP.