Demonetized notes worth Rs 100 crore seized from residential premises in Kanpur

In biggest-ever haul of old currency notes 14 months after demonetization, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Uttar Pradesh Police have recovered Rs 100 crore from Kanpur late Tuesday night and arrested as many as 16 people, including a builder, in this connection.

On a tip off by the NIA, the Kanpur Police raided under-construction premises of builder Anand Khatri in Swarup Nagar and recovered currency notes stacked under bed in three rooms. On the information provided by Khatri, police raided 17 other places in the city, including two hotels, in Gumti, Jarnailganj and 80-feet Road to seize old currency notes in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations amounting to Rs 100 crore.

The Acting DGP and ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said that the money was kept for exchange through hawala and NRI transactions in Dubai and other countries.  As many as 16 money exchangers, industrialists and builders have so far been arrested in this connection.

Earlier, the NIA had busted a gang in Delhi funding terrorists through hawala by recovering Rs 36 crore in Delhi. The Meerut Police had also arrested a builder last month recovering Rs 25 crore worth banned currency notes last month. Kanpur seizure is being described as the biggest ever in the country 14 months after demonetization.

The SSP Kanpur Akhilesh Kumar said that Khatri and his associates used to charge five times higher for exchanging old currency notes. They would send the money through hawala and exchange old currency into new through their NRI connections.

During interrogation, Khatri told the police that local as well as businessmen from Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Gujarat etc used to get banned currency notes exchanged through him. “We are verifying information provided by Khatri and other arrested persons to nab those involved in the operation,” said the SSP.

The Kanpur Police have also informed the Income Tax department about the huge haul of banned currency. They are interrogating the arrested persons separately.

#WATCH Police seized demonetized currency worth crores from a residential premises in Kanpur. pic.twitter.com/Hh7sLrWwoG

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

As on November 8, 2016, when the note-ban was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation, totalling Rs 15.44 lakh crore.

In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the RBI had said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99% of the demonetized 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, have returned to the banking system.

In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the RBI had said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99% of the demonetized 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, have returned to the banking system.