Unaccounted cash worth Rs 13.93 lakh, including Rs eight lakh in new notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, has been seized from a local businessman in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, police said today.
Based on specific inputs, the cash, both in new as well as the banned currency notes, was recovered from the businessman under City Kotwali police station area last evening, a police official said.
There was information that the businessman, who runs a gift shop, was involved in exchanging scrapped currency notes with new ones following which a police team raided his premises, including the house, and seized cash worth Rs 13,93,173, he said.
The recovered money included Rs 7,76,000 in Rs 2,000 denomination, Rs 24,000 in the new notes of Rs 500, Rs four lakh in the banned notes of Rs 500, besides Rs 1,93,173 in lower denomination notes, he said.
"During interrogation, the businessman failed to give satisfactory answers following which the amount was seized under Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)," the official said.
At least 17 bank passbooks, 40 ATM cards, Aadhar cards and other identity proofs in the name of different persons were also seized from his possession, he said.
It appears he was either involved in currency exchange and "hawala" trade or misusing Jan Dhan bank accounts to dispose of black money after demonetisation, the official said, adding that "no arrest has been made in this connection but interrogation is on".
"TheIncome TaxDepartment has been informed and the matter is being investigated," he added.
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