Hyderabad: The RBI may have withdrawn the exchange option for demonetised currency, but many gangs are making hay by cheating those who still hold old currency. After demonetisation, the RBI allowed citizens to exchange old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till December 31, 2016, and gave NRIs time till March 31, 2017. As per the Ordinance issued by the Union government on March 31, 2017, the legal tender of specified bank notes was withdrawn and holding old currency denominations is now a crime.
A few gangs are now cheating realtors and businessmen with old currency by offering to exchange them on 50 per cent commission basis. The Hyderabad Task Force police has seized about Rs 20 crore in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency denominations from seven gangs in six cases in the last 50 days.Task Force inspector (North Zone) L. Raja Venkat Reddy said there was now no chance of exchanging of currency as the RBI had withdrawn that option.
“Some gangs are working to cheat business personalities by taking some amount as advance. We caught about seven gangs in the last two months. None of them having links with either RBI staff or bank employees. This is purely cheating,” he said. Task Force DCP B. Limba Reddy said as per the RBI’s notification on ‘Specified Bank Notes Cessation of Liabilities’, holding old currency was a crime.
“We are registering cases as per the new law. The accused can be sentenced to pay 10 times more currency for holding large demonetised notes,” Mr Reddy said. Police suspect that the gang members who took commissions from people who held demonetised currency might inform the police in few cases and are investigating that aspect.
An official from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that there was no scope of exchanging demonetised currency now. “Accurate information regarding collected demonetised currency during exchange was already uploaded in RBI’s central server. No RBI staff or bank staff can indulge malpractices. If anyone from RBI has old currency, they will face prosecution as per the new law,” the official said.
Task force arrests 13 for old notes scandal
North Zone Task Force team apprehended 13 persons who were in possession of demonetised currency notes on Sunday and seized Rs 1.85 crores old currency, two cars and 13 cell phones from them.
According to the police, they were illegally trying to exchange the demonetised currency on commission basis with agents near Hockey Ground at Begumpet on Sunday, when they arrested them.
The arrested accused were identified Kamal Kabra, 32, Kanhaiyalal Agarwal alias Kannu, 54, Vishal Kumar, 35, Deepak Agarwal, 43, T. Narendra Agarwal, 42, Y. Ajay Kumar, 52, Mohd Mazar, 39, Rajendra Agarwal, 49, Mohd Khamruddin, 40, M. Raja Rao, 53, Mohd Waseem, 33, R. Praveen Raju, 46, and N. Raju, 36.
“The accused Kamal Kabra, Kanhaiyalal and Vishal Kumar were business friends. They were having old currency of Rs 50 lakhs in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations and were waiting to exchange it with the present notes on commission basis. Later, Vishal came in contact with Deepak Agarwal and his friends, Narender, Ajay Kumar, Mohd. Mazar and Rajender Agarwal, who informed him that they were having Rs 1,01,55,000 of old currency.
Rajender informed the gang about the remaining accused stating that even they have some old currency” said the deputy co-mmissioner of police, commissioner’s task force, B. Limba Reddy.
“While they were searching for a way to exchange the currency, they got an information from an agent that if the amount is more than Rs 1 crore, they will get a 35 percent of presently functioning notes and also a five per cent commission for the agent should be given,” he said. Accordingly, they met near Hockey Ground in Begumpet on Sunday and based on tip off, the task force team arrested them.
