Cops to hand over seized Rs 45 crore in old notes to court

The RBI officials on Friday inspected the notes that had been seized by the police from the house of Dhandapani at Zacharia’s Colony, Kodambakkam. Dhandapani, during an interrogation, had told the police that the amount had been given to him by a private financier Padhen Chellani from Teynampet. Police, after conducting enquiries with him, sent a report to the Income Tax department. 

The Kodambakkam police have registered an FIR under Section 102 of the CrPC (seizure of material found in suspicious circumstances) and have informed the same to the other departments. The RBI officials will take the currency for destroying, sources said. 

Meanwhile, I-T sources said that there is no clear RBI instruction regarding procedure to be followed if demonetized currency notes are seized after the date for legal exchange of these currencies ended. 

“Till the date where the demonetized currencies could be exchanged, they were considered legal tender and held the same value. However, there is no clear instruction as to what should be done when there is a seizure of demonetized currency after the expiry of such dates,” an Income Tax official here said. 

The seizure effected by the Kodambakkam police is the single largest seizure of demonetized currency after the date for legal exchange of such notes ended in Tamil Nadu. Police said Dhandapani, from whom the currency notes were recovered, had no history of being an exchange agent post demonetization. However, the investigation is on to find out why the private financier had given the notes to Dhandapani.