New Delhi (Sputnik) — Alarmed by the Narendra Modi government's crackdown on illegal wealth, a businessman in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh devised a novel way of hiding currency notes he had hoarded over the years.
When police raided real estate dealer Anand Khatri's Kanpur residence on Wednesday, they were shocked to discover beds made entirely of wads of currency notes, one after the other. The cash was in INR 500 and INR 1000 notes, which were demonetized by the government in November 2016. The investigation is on to ascertain why Khatri held on to the rupee bills that no longer enjoyed the status of money.
#WATCH Police seized demonetized currency worth crores from a residential premises in Kanpur. pic.twitter.com/Hh7sLrWwoG
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018
"We received information of the presence of demonetized currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur. A raid was conducted by teams of the Reserve Bank of India and Income Tax department officials. We are interrogating the people involved," A.K. Meena, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) told ANI.
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The authorities are also investigating the possibility of a money laundering racket. At least 16 other persons have been detained so far on suspicion of having offered help to Khatri for exchanging the banned notes for new ones, according to the police.
