Authorities on Saturday continued to dig up currency to the tune of lakhs of rupees, including in new notes, across the country.
Kerala
Busting a currency exchange racket, Kerala police have seized Rs 39.98 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination notes at Tirur area of Malappuram district and arrested a man, already facing a hawala case, in this connection.
While Rs 3 lakh was seized from 63-year-old Shoukath Ali at the bus stand in Tirur, Rs 36.98 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes was recovered from the residence of a businessman, police said.
Ali, hailing from Palakkad district, was produced before a magistrate's court and remanded in judicial custody on Saturday, police said.
A search was on for businessman Shabir Babu, who had allegedly given the Rs three lakh to Ali to exchange scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Babu had also allegedly distributed new currency notes to nine other persons in exchange for scrapped notes, they said. Ali had been arrested six months ago on charges of hawala transactions and is out on bail, police added.
Gujarat
Three persons were detained after Rs 27.62 lakh in new Rs 2,000 denomination notes were allegedly recovered from them at Bhuj in Kutch district, police said.
The cash was seized and the matter referred to the the Income Tax Department, an official said.
Acting on a tip-off that the trio was trying to exchange demonetised currency notes with new bills for a commission, the police detained them when they arrived near a hotel on Madhpar highway in a car.
"We detained three persons who arrived in a car and were waiting for a customer who had contacted them to exchange their demonetised currency notes," said J M Ala, Inspector, Local Crime Branch (LCB) Kutch (West).
Police recovered 1,381 notes in Rs 2,000 denomination from their possession, totalling Rs 27.62 lakh, and 82 bills of Rs 100 (Rs 8,200).
"They did not furnish any documents to support the possession of money. We detained them and seized the money. The Income Tax Department has been informed and it will
further investigate the matter," said Ala.
The trio was identified as Irfan Mistry, Abdul Odiyan and Imran Majotha, he said.
Noida
A total of Rs 2.6 crore cash and 95 kg of gold and silver has been seized and four persons arrested by the DRI in connection with its probe into alleged diversion of duty free gold worth about Rs 140 crore, imported under a special concession scheme, by a firm operating from a Noida-based Special Economic Zone.
The sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's Lucknow zonal unit carried out the searches for two days on the premises of M/s Shri Lal Mahal Limited and the residences of company officials as part of its anti-black money operations after demonetisation, the agency said in a statement.
Four people associated with the firm were arrested late evening after questioning, a DRI official said.
"It is found that the unit has illegally diverted and sold 430 kg (valued at about Rs 140 crore) of duty free gold in the market.
"Cash amounting to Rs 2.60 crore (Rs 2.48 crore in old currency notes and Rs 12 lakh in new notes) has been seized.
"Unaccounted 80 kg of silver found in the factory has also been recovered. Further, 15 kg of gold jewellery has been seized from the premises of the firm," the statement added.
The DRI alleged that the firm had also "transferred huge amount of money through RTGS (funds transfer through banking channels) to a firm operating from their premises to purchase gold coins or bars of 24kg after November 8 (the day Rs 1000/Rs 500 were demonetised) from MMTC, India's largest public sector trading body, also to sell in the market for old demonetised currency".
Tamil Nadu
Income Tax officials conducted raids in Dindigul at the house of sand-mining baron Shekar Reddy's associate Ratnam, a quarry contractor who was arrested a couple of days ago on charge of exchanging unaccounted old currency notes.
A team of I-T officials from Perambalur, about 150 km from Dindigul, were conducting searches at the house of Ratnam from around 6 am, official sources said.
The searches are going on, they said declining to give any further detail.
The CBI had on December 22 arrested Ratnam and another quarry contractor Ramachandran, and Reddy's auditor Premkumar following investigations in connection with recent Income Tax searches at his residence and office in Chennai that resulted in seizure of 127 kg of gold and over Rs 170 crore in cash post-demonetisation.
Reddy, along with his associate Srinivasulu, was arrested by CBI on December 21.
The five have been accused of converting the unaccounted cash held by them in old currency notes to new notes with the help of unknown public servants from different banks within 24 days from the date demonetisation was announced (November 8).
Representation Image: Courtesy PTI Photo