Youth flees with Rs 5 lakh defunct notes that Nalasopara trader handed over for exchange

MUMBAI: In a desperate bid to change his old currency notes, a Nalasopara trader handed over Rs 5 lakh to a youth, who never returned. The incident took place on November 17. After failing to find the youth, the trader Sanjay Jain filed a complaint with the Virar police on Tuesday.
On November 16, a youth identified as Vikas Jha, a resident of Suram Park, Virar (east) approached Jain with an offer to help exchange defunct notes with new currency.Jain handed over Rs 25,000 (old notes) to Jha (22) who managed to exchange it for the new Rs 2,000 notes within hours.
Having gained confidence, the next day Jain asked Jha to exchange Rs 5 lakh. Jain told the police that the money included his wife and other family member’s savings. He handed it to Jha who had promised to exchange the money in connivance with the bank manager of a co-operative bank and that it would not reflect in the taxable income.
On November 17, Jain along with his brother Dilip handed over the defunct notes to Jha at Narangi Phata in Virar (east) at around 1.15 pm. Jha who arrived on a two-wheeler told the brothers to wait at the same spot while he returned with the new notes in 15 minutes. The brothers waited for over two hours. In the meantime, their calls to Jha went unanswered. They went looking for Jha at his home but in vain. Unable to find Jha, on Tuesday, Jain filed a complaint with the Virar police who has booked Jha for cheating.
Police said that they will look into Jha’s claims of exchanging old currency in connivance with the co-operative bank manager. Police are ascertaining how Jha managed to exchange Rs 25,000 defunct currency in a single day as alleged by Jain.