Currency exchange racket busted in Odisha; Rs 1.42 cr seized

Odisha Police on Sunday busted a currency exchange racket in scrapped notes with the seizure of over Rs 1.42 crore and arrest of eight persons in Sambalpur district.

The Sambalpur police also recovered two pistols, five live rounds of bullets and a car from their possession.

The police have seized Rs 1,42,91,000 out of which Rs 85,62,000 is in newly-introduced denomination notes.

Sambalpur SP Akhileshvar Singh said Rs 85 lakh in new currency notes and Rs 24 lakh in scrapped currency were seized from the arrested persons.

"It would not be possible to get such a large amount of new denomination notes without the involvement of bank officials. Questioning is on and the police will probe to elicit information how they managed to get so much of new currency," Singh said.

A bank official's involvement has been established in the case an he is among the arrested persons, the police officer added.

"Prima facie, it appears that a bank official was involved in the trading of the scrapped notes. Involvement of more bank officials cannot be ruled out," said the Sambalpur SP.

Singh said a liquor businessman, who was among the eight arrested persons, was hoarding the currency notes to evade tax and was trying to convert his black money into white.

--IANS

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