15 held in Bengaluru, Rs 5.75 crore in scrapped notes seized

Bengaluru: Fifteen persons were arrested from Bengaluru on Tuesday and demonetised currency totalling Rs 5.75 crore was seized from them, police said on Tuesday.

This followed the search of a car parked in front of a hotel at Basavanagudi on a tip, Deputy Commissioner of Police S.D. Sharanappa told reporters here.

The three persons were arrested on charges of trying to exchange scrapped currency totalling Rs 2.15 crore, he said. 

A car, a two-wheeler and two mobile phones were seized from Iqbal Mohammad, 40, S. Rajesh, 30, and Ravindranath, 44, all from Bengaluru. 

Later, P. Sadashiva, 38, and E. Harsha, 40, were arrested on the PES College Main Road along with old notes totalling Rs 1.12 crore. Two mobile phones were seized from them. 

Two persons were caught in Gandhi Bazaar while trying to exchange Rs 50 lakh in scrapped notes. A sport utility vehicle and two mobile phones were seized from J. Suresh, 32, and R. Raghunandan, 32. 

Four persons were held in Subramanyapura area with demonetised notes totalling Rs 98 lakh. They are C.H. Bharath, 21, K. Srinivas, 50, both from Bengaluru; S.R. Srinivasamurthy, 48, and M.R. Chandre Gowda, 31, from Chikballapur district.

Bengaluru residents V. Murali, 39, G. Balaji, 36, Shafiq Ahmed, 39, and M. Manjunath, 25, were arrested and Rs 1 crore in scrapped notes were seized from them apart from a car. 

All the 15 have been booked under the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017.

Similar seizures of scrapped notes and arrests were made in the city earlier too.

On March 23, two men were arrested with demonetised notes totalling Rs 1.28 crore. On March 28, four men were arrested with old notes totalling Rs 4.98 crore.

On April 2, 14 men were arrested with demonetised notes adding up to Rs 9.1 crore. On April 15, former corporator V. Nagaraj's residence and office were raided and demonetised notes totalling Rs 14.8 crore were seized.

On April 29, seven persons were arrested with Rs 96.9 lakh in scrapped currency. And on June 5, five persons were held with Rs 2.50 crore in old notes.