Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The city police recovered Rs 32 lakh cash from a house in Ashoka Garden during a late-night raid on Thursday.
Hundreds of bundles of cash of Rs 10 and Rs 20 denominations were found at a house that is said to be owned by Kailash Khatri, a resident of Pant Nagar Colony. The action comes barely three days ahead of the last phase of Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, scheduled in the Indore-Malwa region on May 13.
The police are also investigating Hawala's angle in the case.
Initial investigations revealed that the occupant, Kailash Khatri (38), is involved in currency exchange activities. Although a letter pertaining to the matter was found, the police denied receiving any official proof.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Priyanka Shukla, stated that Kailash resides with his wife and children in Panth Nagar, Ashoka Garden. Acting on information received from an informant, a raid was conducted at their residence, resulting in the recovery of 31,87,730 rupees. Khatri informed the police that he has been involved in currency exchange work since 2006 and also owns a shop in Hyderabad.
According to information given by Khatri, for every one lakh rupees of torn notes exchanged, he returned seventy-five thousand rupees. In 2015, the RBI wrote to the Punjab National Bank authorising Khatri to deposit torn and old notes in the bank.
However, he mentioned that banks had stopped accepting such notes recently. Consequently, he started selling them in Mumbai and Agra.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) explained that the accused couldn't provide a satisfactory explanation for why he had such a large sum of cash at home.
Additionally, no legal documents related to his involvement in the currency exchange business were found. He is currently being interrogated.
