17,472 demonetised notes worth Rs 1 cr seized in Ghaziabad, 10 held

GHAZIABAD: As many as 10 persons were arrested from Kavi Nagar on Monday night with Rs 1 crore in demonetised currency notes. Cops have seized 14,944 notes of Rs 500 denomination and 2,528 notes of Rs 1000 denomination. The arrested persons were apparently taking the consignment to Nepal to “exchange” it with the new currency.

According to police, the demonetised currency notes were given to them by one “Mr Yadav” from Agra. There is involvement of another person Anil Dixit from Greater Noida who had claimed to have Rs 200 crore in old notes and needed to get it exchanged.

The arrested have been identified as Avatar Singh, Gaurav Garg, residents of Rohini in Delhi, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Palwal, Pintu, a resident of Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad, Rahul Kumar, a resident of Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad, Arun Gupta, a resident of Malviya Nagar in Delhi, Deepak, a resident of Mathura, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Kumar and Kavya, all three residents of Meerut.

Police caught them at around 10pm, following a tip-off that they were fleeing to Nepal in two cars with the demonetised currency notes. SSP Vaibhav Krishna said, “During questioning, Deepak revealed that the money belonged to Arun Gupta, who claimed to be a Delhi-based financier and he was promised one percent commission for ferrying the money.”

“Arun Gupta told that the money belonged to “Mr Yadav” from Agra. He was introduced to Yadav by Anil Dixit of Greater Noida. Dixit had told Gupta, in total there was Rs 200 crore in demonetized currency notes which needed to be shifted to Nepal in several instalments. Gupta added, he was given three to four percent commission for each trip. Other accomplices were also getting a commission on the basis of the job assigned to them,” the SSP added.

Following the arrest, the senior officials of the income tax department were informed to collect further information about their modus operandi.

Police sources said that the accused were told that demonetized currencies were being dumped in Nepal with a hope that they would be exchanged with the new notes in the future.

The arrested persons have been booked under relevant sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act.