The Crime branch of Mumbai Police on Tuesday seized demonetised notes worth Rs. 65 lakh from Kurla and arrested three businessmen in connection with the same.
According to officials, a businessman, identified as Kantilal Shah, approached one of their informers and enquired about exchanging demonetised notes worth Rs. 49 lakh.
When the informer agreed to get the notes exchanged, Shah told him about two of his friends who also wanted to get their old notes converted.
The friends wanted to exchange notes worth Rs. 6 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh respectively.
“Police got to know that the three businessmen possess scrapped currency notes. Based on the tip-off, a dummy agent was sent to the trio, who told them that he can get their notes exchanged at 35 percent commission,” said officials.
After agreeing to the transaction, the officials of crime branch Unit-III laid a trap and recovered these notes from them.
“The Crime Branch sleuths laid a trap near L ward office of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Kurla, where they caught three businessmen with scrapped currency notes,” the official said.
During the searches, police recovered Rs. 33.70 lakh in Rs. 500 denomination notes and Rs. 31.30 lakh in Rs. 1,000, police said.
The Income Tax Department has been informed about the seizure and the suspects will be handed over to them for further inquiry.
