2 wanted for possessing banned cash

Mumbai: The MIDC police is on the lookout for two more accused, in addition to the three who were caught in Andheri for possession of Rs 4 crore worth of demonetised cash in denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, which were scrapped by the government in November 2016.

Acting on a tip-off that a few persons with demonetised cash were holed-up at a hotel in Andheri, the police Thursday evening knocked on the door of the accused’s hotel room. When no one answered, the police entered the room by force and seized around Rs 4.93 crores in banned denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. The police arrested three accused, who later revealed that they were in the city only to exchange the demonetised cash for new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and that the money was owned by a Hyderabad-based businessman. The accused also revealed that they had two more accomplices who were unaccounted for.

The arrested accused were produced in an Andheri metropolitan court on Friday and remanded to police custody till Thursday. The police is probing the case, and has tied up with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) as a lot of cash is involved.

A team has been sent to Hyderabad to look for the owner of the demonetised money.