Ten people including a woman were arrested by the Central zone police while they were collecting demonetised currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 to try and exchange it with legal tender. A total of ₹3.01 crore were seized by officials from a real estate office inside the Babukhan Estate at Basheerbagh, where the accused had collected the cash.
According to Joel Davis, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central zone, the accused were identified as Mahender Prasad, Yogesh Kumar, Afsar Baig, Mohd. Shakeeruddin, K. S. Purshotham, K. Anand, Mohd. Abdul Naseer, K. Srinivas, T. Sai Krishna and G. Koteshwaramma. They colluded with two prime accused named Shekar Babu and Srinu, a bank employee.
The two prime accused are however yet to be arrested, Mr. Davis told the media on Tuesday. All those who were arrested had colluded and assembled at the office of one Fazaluddin, on tghe premises of the Babukhan estate, said the DCP. Some other accused who were also present there managed to escape, said Mr. Davis.
A senior official, requesting anonymity, however said that how the exchange was to be done with legal tender is still a mystery, as the police have not yet established any links with brokers or people with links to RBI in other cities, where demonetised currency can be deposited till March 31.
The official told The Hindu that two others are still being questioned in connection with the case for getting some leads. “Though there is no trace of any RBI links, lot of people with demonetised currency notes are hopeful of exchanging the cash. In this case, those who were arrested had collected money from 10 to 20 other people, and were seeking a commission for it,” he added.
The ₹3.01 crore seized from the Babukhan estate at Basheerbagh was being collected over the last three days. The glasses in the office were covered with newspapers which were three to four days old, pointed out the official. “With that we could make out that this was going õn for the last three days at least,” he added.
