5 held in Delhi with over Rs 3.25 crore in old notes

Investigations have shown that the money belonged to a hawala operator from Mumbai.

New Delhi, Dec 14: The Delhi Police Crime Branch and Income Tax Department has held five persons here with Rs 3.25 crore in old currency notes, police said on Wednesday. In a joint operation conducted by the Income Tax Department and Crime Branch of the Delhi police, around Rs 3.25 crore in old notes were seized from a hotel in Delhi's Karol Bagh on Wednesday.

Investigations have shown that the money belonged to a hawala operator from Mumbai. According to reports, the notes were packed in a way so that the airport scanning machines could not detect it.

The five men are carriers and have been identified as Ansari Abuzar, Fazal Khan, Ansari Affan, Ladu Ram and Mahaveer Singh, he said. The recovered amount was kept in different suitcases and cardboard box.

The Income Tax department has seized the cash and is analysing the mobile phone details of these people since their phones contain details of lot of other hawala operators, he added.

On Wednesday, K Michael, a Senior Special Assistant employed with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Bengaluru was arrested by the CBI after it was found that he was aiding a currency exchange racket.

The CBI had also arrested K.C. Veerendra, a businessman and politician from Challakere, Chitradurga district, in whose house IT sleuths discovered secret cash vaults in the bathroom. The officials had recovered over Rs. 5 crore in new currency, apart from bullion.

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