3 held with Rs 1 crore in old notes at Tirupur

The incident happened when Velampalayam police had been conducting vehicle checks at Solipalayam. Suspicious over the activities of the trio, they stopped their car and found the money in a shoulder bag. 

The occupants, Ramasamy (50) of Neduncheri in Pudukkottai, owner of a soda company, his spare driver Senthil Kumar (29) of Pudukkottai, and Sulaiman (31) of Tiruchy Airport area, gave contradictory statements to the police. Sources said that the police were on the lookout for a fourth person who had managed to escape. 

It is said that Ramasamy took Kumar to Chennai, where he gave Rs 10 lakh to one Ibrahim in exchange for demonetised currencies worth Rs 1 crore from him. In a bid to exchange the money, Kumar introduced Ramasamy to a friend Sulaiman. 

Through Sulaiman they met Kovil of Pudukkottai who offered to get the notes exchanged at Tirupur. Cops said that Ramasamy, Kumar, Sulaiman and Kovil set off to Tirupur in a car on Saturday. However, Kovil managed to give police the slip. 

The police interrogated the trio to find out the way the old notes were to be exchanged in Tirupur. They, along with the notes and their car were produced before judicial magistrate-III on Sunday, following which they were remanded in judicial custody. 

Police said that the notes would be handed over to the I-T department on Monday and further course of action would be initiated according to the latest guidelines of the Supreme Court. This is the biggest seizure of demonetised currency notes in Tirupur.