A year after two high-denomination notes were declared invalid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cops in the city continue to watch for attempts to exchange a large sum of demonetised currency.
Data from Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police Commissionerates covering the outskirts of the city, indicates that the police have thwarted 35 attempts to exchange old currency for the new in the past year. The demonetised currency were seized amounting to ₹31.9 crore. A bulk of the attempts was thwarted within the heart of the city.
The Prime Minister announced demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes, which was widely deemed as an attempt to curb hoarding of unaccounted wealth.
The police continued to receive tip-offs of the attempts to exchange currency, for a cost. Those nabbed in most cases were agents and sub-agents, hinting that several networks of touts and middlemen continue to work for those wanting to avoid scrutiny. In the most recent case reported a week ago, the Task Force caught one person at Punjagutta possessing demonetised currency amounting to ₹90 lakh. They said the man attempted to exchange currency for a realtor.
The police also say the quantum of currency in the possession of touts being caught has decreased over the year. “It seems old currency in illegal possession is drying out. But we continue to keep a watch, particularly at Punjagutta and S.R. Nagar,” the police official said. Besides attracting the provisions of Indian Penal Code, many attempting to exchange currency were also booked under the Cessation of Liabilities of Act, which came into force in March. The Act rules that the possession of more than ten scrapped notes is an offence.
