Five arrested with Rs 99 lakh demonetised currency in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Task force sleuths arrested five persons including an engineering student for trying to exchange Rs 99 lakh demonetised currency in the city on Saturday night.
Acting on a tip off, Central Zone Task force sleuths nabbed, V Sai Kumar Reddy, 22, a B Tech student of Sri Indu Engineering College in Ibrahimpatnam, T Sai, 24, a driver from Miyapur, T Prasad, 35, a realtor from Guntur, B Nagendar, 42, a grocery store owner from Janagaon and P Ram Babu, 36, a realtor from Kothapet in Dilsukhnagar when they gathered at Sanjeevaiah Park to exchange Rs 99 lakh demonetised currency.
During the interrogation, V Sai Kumar Reddy confessed to the cops that his friend Sai, driver from Miyapur, came to him with a plan to exchange demonetised currency for commission. “Reddy’s father is a farmer and the family was finding it difficult to even pay the college fee. To lead a comfortable student life, Reddy wanted to make some quick money and shared his feelings with Sai and the latter, spoke to a friend Vinay who was working for a businessman Praveen,” task force inspector S Srinivasa Rao said.
Vinay told Sai that he can provide Rs 90 lakh demonetised currency and if they manage to exchange it, each of them would be given Rs 50,000 as commission.
Reddy and Sai agreed to exchange the money and Sai contacted Prasad, self proclaimed demonetised currency exchanger, offering him five per cent commission. Prasad in turn contacted his friends, Nagender and Rambabu for help.
On Saturday evening, Sai Kumar Reddy and Sai came to Sanjeevaiah Park with Rs 99 lakh demonetised currency and met the other accused to discuss about the exchange. Meanwhile, police got an alert about the entire episode and caught the offenders red handed.
“The currency was in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations,” Central Zone Task force inspector S Srinivasa Rao said.
Along with the demonetised currency, cops also seized six cell phones from the possession of the accused and handed them over to Ramgopalpet police for further investigation.