Mumbai: The Thane Police Crime Branch on Saturday detained a suspect with over ₹96 lakh in demonetised notes in his possession.
According to police officials, the suspect was detained after the anti-chain snatching unit of the crime branch received a tip-off that he would be coming to the Retibandar area in Kharegaon, Thane, with the discontinued currency.
“We laid a trap near the Amit Garden hotel in Retibandar. The suspect, who was later identified as Sanjay Channe, reached the spot in a WagonR. We interecepted him and searches his vehicle. We found a knapsack and a cloth bag, both containing demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes,” said an officer with the Thane Crime Branch.
The suspect and the money were taken to the anti-chain snatching unit office in Thane, where the money was counted. Channe was found to be carrying 5,231 notes of ₹1,000 and 8,919 notes of ₹500, altogether worth ₹96,90,500. “We have informed the Income Tax Department about the seizure and will soon hand the suspect over to them,” the officer added.
The seizure comes close on the heels of one of the biggest seizures of demonetised currency by the Thane Crime Branch. Earlier this week, over a period of three days, the police had detained five suspects in three different operations and seized ₹2.35 crore in demonetised currency from them.
