An unusual case, pertaining to demonetization was added to a bunch of petitions being heard at the Supreme Court (SC). The matter was filed by Abhishek Shukla, who in July 2015 was discharged by a trial court in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing case. Shukla approached the SC seeking help in getting demonetized notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 amounting to Rs. 5 lakh exchanged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In 2013, Shukla who was booked by police as an alleged bookie, however, two years later, along with former cricketer S Sreesanth, was exonerated of charges levied against them.
The money, Shukla claims was seized by Delhi Police’s Special Cell when it was probing the case. Advocate Manjit Singh Ahluwalia informed a bench led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar that though his client - Shukla was exonerated in 2015, the money seized -- Rs. 5.5 lakh was released by the court almost two years later, in February 2017. The money released by the authorities were in the cancelled currency of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000, now useless since Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetized the said notes on November 8, 2016.
When Shukla approached the RBI in March, the bank had refused to accept and change the money.
Shukla informed the court that it was not his fault he was late in submitting the demonetized notes since the money was lying with the Delhi Police in the Malkhana all this time.
Taking note of his grievance, the bench asked Shukla to furnish the seizure memo prepared by the police officials to prove that the money in question was the same that was seized in connection with the spot-fixing case. The document must have kept a record of the specific currency, the bench said.
Shukla asked the court to issue a direction to the Centre and the RBI allowing him to deposit the notes. Shukla would be happy to offer an explanation for not being able to deposit it during the window of exchange announced by the Centre.
Shukla claimed, though he had personally visited the RBI office, the bank had declined to entertain his request and refused to exchange the old notes. The RBI had then pointed out the December 30, 2016 ordinance that makes possession of such currency a criminal offence.
Shukla also placed RBI’s March 7 letter, which declined his request, on the record. The bank had conveyed that only money from Indian citizens who were not in the country between November 9 and December 30, 2016, would be accepted.
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 "IPL spot-Fixing, Supreme Court (SC), demonetization, Delhi Police")
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