Ten people, including a Congress leader and an additional inspector were arrested on Tuesday for stealing new currency notes. Banjara Hills police recovered Rs. 52 lakh in cash consisting of new Rs. 2000 notes from them.
The accused identified as Y Rajasekhar, an additional inspector of Tappachabutra, P Tirumalesh Naidu, a local Congress politician, and his associates Y Anil Kumar, A Praveen Kumar, G Bala Krishna, Ch Raju, E Anand, R Praveen, K Sai Kumar and M Raju, were arrested from their houses in the city.
It was reported that Laxman Agarwal, a businessman from Kothagudem, came to Hyderabad on December 2 to exchange the currency with demonetised notes, but was threatened and robbed of Rs. 30 lakhs. After he filed a complaint, police registered a case of dacoity.
During the investigation, police received complaints from two more victims who had been threatened and robbed of Rs. 48 lakh by Tirumalesh Naidu, the Congress leader.
Tirumalesh Naidu and Tappachabutra police additional inspector Y Rajashekar were identified as the prime conspirators in the case.
The New Indian Express report said that after demonetisation of high value notes, Naidu and Rajashekar spread the word to give 22% commission for converting their demonetised notes to new Rs. 2000 notes.
Laxman fell into the trap and he came to the city to exchange the currency with demonetised notes for commission. On the day of exchange, Rajashekar, posing as an official of the police task force, threatened Laxman and took all the cash.
It was also reported that Rajashekar was earlier caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau when he was working at the Nampally police station.
Along with the Rs. 52 lakh cash, police also recovered two cars and one toy pistol.