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Nagpur: Peanut seller among 4 involved in illegal conversion of ₹2,000 notes; held
After learning the process of legally converting notes, the peanut seller hired poor people as frontline workers and offered them ₹300 as a ‘commission’.
The Nagpur police investigation into the modus operandi of an illegal ₹2,000 note conversion racket led them to arrest a peanut seller and three others.
The gang allegedly helped people convert the now withdrawn notes for a commission, PTI reported.
On May 19, 2023, the RBI announced the withdrawal of ₹2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation.
One of the accused, Nandalal Maurya, sells peanuts and other eatables on a pushcart in the Samvidhan Square area, where the Reserve Bank office and Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan are located.
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Three other accused are Rohit Bawne (34), Kishore Bahoriya (30), and Anil Jain (56), who hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. Police believe Jain to be the mastermind behind the racket.
The investigation began after a tip-off that Jain engaged peanut seller Maurya to operate the racket after collecting ₹2,000 notes from various “customers”in different parts of the country.
In his first attempt, Maurya successfully exchanged 10 notes of the ₹2,000 currency at the RBI office at Samvidhan Square.
After learning the process, Maurya reportedly hired poor men and women as frontline workers and offered them ₹300 as a “commission.” These people submitted their Aadhaar card details to the RBI to legally exchange the ₹2,000 notes with ₹500 notes.
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Maurya also earned a commission from Jain for every successful exchange of notes, police said. “Jain promised Maurya ₹200 each for converting 10 notes of ₹2,000 into ₹500 currency notes,” the officer explained.
An initial probe found that Maurya allegedly had large amounts of cash. On Saturday, police recovered ₹60,000 cash, including 120 notes of ₹500 denomination, from his residence, the report added.
Police also recovered ₹62,500, including a ₹2,000 note and 120 notes of ₹500 denomination from Bawne, and ₹80,000, including 160 notes of ₹500 denomination from Bahoriya.
