Syndicates target cash hoarders
The government’s decision to scrap ?500 and ?1,000 notes in 2016 has led to the creation of a space for police acting as complainants in multiple cases of ‘cheating.’ The cash haul in Uttar Pradesh last week, where 16 people were arrested for allegedly storing scrapped ?500 and ?1,000 notes worth ?96 crore is a case in point.
The tip-off was provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the accused were booked for cheating with the police as the complainant.
As per the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, a person can only be fined for storing old currency notes and it’s a non-cognisable offence.
On November 8, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address to the nation had announced that the ?500 and ?1000 notes were no longer valid. He described the move as a measure to address black money hoarding and to curb terrorist activities.
Officials say they have identified a well-oiled ring that was offering to change the old currency notes for new ones for a hefty commission.
With no one to complain in such cases, the police are registering the case on their own.
Anurag Arya, Superintendent of Police, Kanpur (East) where the arrests were made said one of the accused, Anand Khatri, a sari shop owner had stored the notes at his house and had been collecting them for the past six months. The money belonged to Khatri, Santosh Yadav and Mohit.
Asked who they were cheating as the money belonged to them, Mr. Arya said, “It is cheating because they were making people believe that they would get the notes exchanged when there was no way of doing it. They were basically fooling people that they could do it after charging a commission of 30-40% of the value of the old notes. The RBI doesn’t provide any such window.”
Please click here to read more.