Journalist among five arrested with ₹1 crore in scrapped notes in Mumbai

Mumbai city news: Sunil Lokhande, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 5), said, “We got a tip-off that a few people were coming to Harey City Mall to exchange banned notes. We laid a trap and caught the men.”

The Kasarwadavli police on Friday arrested a journalist and five of his friends for allegedly trying to exchange Rs1 crore in demonetised currency in Thane.

Policemen display the seized notes (HT photo)

The police suspect that the journalist, Suresh Tukaram Zhondgeh who works for a weekly newspaper, is the main accused.

Apart from Zhondgeh, the other accused were Malkan Nathu Pawar, Uttam Kashinath Patil, Naresh Anil Kulkarni, Mil Surendra Lubhana and Amol Ashok Shinde. All are residents of Badlapur.

The police seized 30 notes of Rs500 and 9,985 of Rs1,000.

Sunil Lokhande, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 5), said, “We got a tip-off that a few people were coming to Harey City Mall to exchange banned notes. We laid a trap and caught the men.”

The arrested men hid the notes in a sack, he said.

They had collected the scrapped notes from many people and charged a 20% premium.

“We are trying to nab a man from Thane who was supposed to exchange the scrapped notes,” added Lokhande.

The five men have been sent to police custody.