About Rs 100 crore in demonetised notes seized from half-built house in Kanpur

An NIA official said the demonetised currency belonged to four-five “individuals or companies” including a prominent detergent-maker.

india Updated: Jan 17, 2018 16:24 IST
Since the government banned 500 and 1000-rupee notes, hundreds of crores of the demonetised currency have been channelled into the formal banking system, a large part of them illegally.
Since the government banned 500 and 1000-rupee notes, hundreds of crores of the demonetised currency have been channelled into the formal banking system, a large part of them illegally.(ANI Photo/Twitter)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Uttar Pradesh police have recovered demonetised currency notes worth nearly Rs 100 crore from an under-construction house in Kanpur in one of the biggest hauls since the high-value currency was banned in November 2016.

At least 16 people have been arrested since the recovery on Tuesday from the house of Anand Khatri, part of Raj Ratan group which has diversified business interests including real estate, healthcare and textile.

A builder from Sisamau led the team to the site where the currency was stocked, an UP police official said. The investigating agency suspects the cash was hidden with an intention of converting them into legal currency through covert means.

In pre-demonetisation value, the recovered currency was worth Rs 96.20 crore, officials added.

Anand Kumar, the additional director general of police (law and order), said the arrested people were being interrogated and multiple agencies have been requested to check their backgrounds.

Among the arrested, two are from Andhra Pradesh and one from Maharashtra.

“We got the information that huge amount of demonetised currency was being stored in an under construction house in the Swarup Nagar locality of Kanpur...Since there was no terror angle involved, the information was shared with the UP police and a joint raid was conducted,” said a senior NIA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A rickshaw puller brings five tin boxes in which the seized money would be kept and sealed. (HT Photo)

Since the government banned 500 and 1000-rupee notes, hundreds of crores of the demonetised currency have been channelled into the formal banking system, a large part of them illegally.

According to RBI estimates, more than 99% of the demonetised notes have returned to the banks.

The Income Tax department has been informed about the recovery and asked to find out how the money was to be exchanged.

Earlier, the NIA had recovered Rs 36.34 crore in demonetised currency in Delhi in November last year.

(With inputs from Lucknow)