HYDERABAD: In a little more than a month post demonetisation, about a dozen incidents of money exchanges have been reported in the city. While cases were registered when people were robbed during such exchanges, police officials are handing over seized cash to the Income Tax Department, as it is not a crime to exchange currency.
In the most recent instance, a man lodged a complaint with the Chikkadpally police stating that two bike-borne persons stole Rs. 61 lakh in new Rs. 2,000 notes when he had gone to exchange it with another party. Similar incidents have also been reported from the Rachakonda and Cyberabad police limits, wherein people were trying to exchange huge amounts of cash.
“Prima facie it seems like the banks are in connivance with middlemen who are making money due to the situation. If a man is exchanging money for some commission and both the parties agree to it, then the police cannot do anything, as it is not illegal,” said a senior police official, unwilling to be identified.
Unless someone comes forward and complains, the police will not know about such incidents, the official added.
Another senior police official said that a cheating case under Section 420 of the IPC can be registered against people holding huge amounts in the new currency. “But even that might not be maintainable. Only the I-T Department can check and identify the source,” he said.
Officials also pointed out that even in cases wherein people were robbed of money, they do not give exact information about its source. For example, Rs. 58 lakh in Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 100 notes were stolen from a businessman named Divesh Agarwal when he attempted to exchange it with demonetised currency at a 25 per cent commission on December 5.
Mr. Agarwal told the South Zone police, which recovered more than Rs. 50 lakh, that he had got the notes through intermediaries from rural areas. “He apparently did it through some 50 middlemen, who then got the money from several villagers. But that does not seem like a plausible explanation,” the police official pointed out.
Cyberabad Commissioner Sandeep Shandilya said that so far Rs. 1.4 crore in Rs. 2,000 notes have been seized under different police stations limits under his jurisdiction. “Section 420 of the IPC can be applied in such cases. The question is where people are getting such huge amounts from. We are acting only when we have concrete information (about exchanges),” he added.
