The City police, who stumbled upon a hoard of demonetised currency amounting to about ₹45 crore at the shop-cum-residence of one Dhandapani at Zakaria Colony in Kodambakkam on Wednesday, was acting on a tip-off received by Deputy Commissioner of Police, T. Nagar, P. Saravanan.
When questioned, Dhandapani claimed that a Teynampet-based businessman named Chellani had given him the currency for safe custody and exchange after demonetisation was announced. However, the currency could not be exchanged before the time stipulated by the Central Government. Police officers said they had informed the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate about the seizure, but none of the officials from the two agencies came forward to initiate further proceedings from their end.
A senior police officer told The Hindu , “As per provisions contemplated in Section 102 of Criminal Procedure Code, we have registered a First Information Report against Dhandapani and persons yet to be identified for hoarding demonetised currency. The seized notes will be handed over to the jurisdictional court. A report will be sent to RBI for follow-up action in this case.”
ED denies charge
However, when contacted, an officer of the Enforcement Directorate claimed that no information has been communicated to the agency about the seizure. “The notes do not have any value. It is mere waste paper. Only thing which can be probed is whether there is a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation angle to it,” said the ED official.
M. Sheela, Special Public Prosecutor of Income Tax Department said, “The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017 bars any person from stocking any specified bank notes after the expiry of the grace period: March 31, 2017. If anybody contravenes the provision of the law, he/she shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ₹10,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the specified bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher.”
Meanwhile, BJP’s State unit spokesperson K.T. Raghavan said Mr. Dhandapani was not a party functionary and false information was being spread in some sections of the media linking him with the party.
