Businessman loses Rs 70 lakh old notes in ‘exchange trap’
A businessman from Jafferkhanpet fell into a group’s trap of getting demonetized currency exchanged and lost old currency notes worth Rs 70 lakh.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-01-27 16:50 GMT
Chennai
According to the police, Harikrishnan (35), who is in to real estate business, came to know about a group, led by Khaleel of Vaniambadi, that exchanged old currency notes for commission. Harikrishnan got Khaleel’s phone number from a friend, who is a mechanic. Harikrishnan told the members that he had old currency notes worth Rs 70 lakh. The gang offered to exchange the notes for a commission of 40 percent, which Harikrishnan agreed.
On Thursday, the gang asked Harikrishnan to come to Tiruvanmiyur beach to exchange the notes. Harikrishnan went there and waited for them. After sometime, four persons came to the beach in a car and met Harikrishnan. They took the currency notes from him under the guise of checking them. They then threatened Harikrishnan at knife point and escaped with the notes.
Harikrishnan subsequently lodged a complaint with the Tiruvanmiyur police, who started an investigation. After tracking mobile phone records, police have reportedly picked up three persons associated with the gang.
During interrogation, the trio reportedly told the police that the other members of the gang had escaped with the money to Vaniambadi. Sources said that a special police team has been sent to Vaniambadi to search and nab the gang. “We are yet to arrest the accused and hope to crack the case by Monday,” Subbarayan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Taramani, told DTNext.
Old notes worth 1.2 crore seized
Police sized demonetised currency notes of RS 500 and Rs 1,000 worth Rs 1.2 crore from a Chennai based gang at Karaikudi in Sivagangai district, on Friday. They have picked up six persons, including a DMK functionary, in this regard and are investigating.
Acting on a tip off, a police team raided a private hotel on 100 feet road in Karaikudi. In one of the rooms, the team found four persons in possession of demonetised currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 worth Rs1.2 crores.
Police seized the notes and took the gang to the Karaikudi North station. Three of the gang members were identified as Arun, Subramanian and Khaja. The gang informed police that the notes belonged to Ramaiah of Karaikudi and they came to hand it over to him.
Police then picked up Ramaiah, who claimed he had asked the gang to hand over the notes to a DMK functionary in Karaikudi, who had promised to exchange the currency with new ones. Following this, the police picked up the DMK functionary and are conducting inquiries. Sources claimed that the DMK functionary was being questioned about the banks and bank officials who were helping him exchange old currency notes. Police are also probing if the DMK functionary had illegally exchanged old currency notes.
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