Uttar Pradesh: Over Rs 96 crore old currency notes seized in Kanpur, 16 held

Conducting simultaneous raids, the police seized demonetised notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from different hotels of the industrial hub of UP.
For representational purposes (File | Reuters)
For representational purposes (File | Reuters)

LUCKNOW: Working on a purported tip-off by National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday recovered over Rs 96 crore in one of the biggest hauls of old currency notes post-demonetisation and arrested 16 persons in Kanpur. 

Conducting simultaneous raids, the police seized demonetised notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from different hotels of the industrial hub of UP. While the counting of seized currency is still on, the haul is expected to increase, said a senior police officer here on Wednesday.

According to the superintendent of police (east) Anurag Arya, the district police had confirmed information about an eastern UP gang, dealing in exchange of old currency notes, active in Kanpur. “We had the information that the gang members were putting up in different hotels at Assi Feet Raod, Swaroop Nagar, Generalganj and Gumti areas across the city with a huge amount of old currency notes,” said Arya.

"We acted on the inputs provided to us about those gang members who were putting up at various hotels and contemplating to exchange of old currency notes with the new ones. We set up teams and deployed cops on those locations in plain clothes,” he said, adding that the accused were nabbed with currency notes during simultaneous raids on those hotels.

Some prominent builders and traders of Kanpur were among those 16 persons who were arrested during the raids. SP(east) also suspected the involvement of Hawala network to exchange those notes even for lesser value. “Initially, two persons,  Prof Santosh of Kanpur DAV College and Mohit were rounded up and on the basis of their inputs, a prominent builder and textile trader, Anand Khatri, was picked up. This led to arrest of 13 more persons taking the total figure of persons arrested to 16,” stated Arya.

“Khatri is believed to be the mastermind of the racket,” said the police officer claiming that maximum notes were seized from Khatri’s location and two persons among 16 arrested by the police hailed from Hyderabad. After Khatri’s arrest, police teams raided his 17 different locations across Kanpur till Wednesday afternoon.

A senior police officer, who is leading the investigation team said the police would investigate the source of the currency and the link of the arrested people with the hawala counterparts in other parts of the country.

Inspector general (Kanpur Range) Alok Singh was monitoring the case. Even police teams were sent to Saharanpur and Varanasi in search of more currency notes on the basis of the inputs provided by Khatri.

Those who were arrested have allegedly admitted during the interrogation that the seized money was being sent outside Kanpur through money exchanger. Even income tax officials had also started the investigation to establish the source of money.

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