The Rachakonda police in Hyderabad on Thursday arrested a man who was allegedly in illegal possession of foreign currency notes of different countries, valued at roughly Rs 2.9 crore.
Police said that the accused, identified as 54-year-old Keerthi Kumar Jain, a resident of Goshamahal, was involved in a racket where he collected foreign currency from known people, and was converting it into Indian currency through his source. For this, he would charge a commission, and would earn profits on the illegal conversion of the currency, the police said.
This is a punishable offence as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999, police said.
"The accused started collecting foreign currency from unknown foreigners and kept them in his possession to exchange the same when the rate gets hiked, to earn more money. He decided to go to Chennai for exchanging the said notes and while he was waiting for s bus at Legend Hospital, Auto Nagar, Vanasthalipuram, the police caught him," the police said in a press note.
Police said that they found US dollars worth Rs 60,39,085, UAE Dirham worth Rs 31,32,920, Saudi Riyal worth Rs 2,00,78,410, and Euro worth Rs 76,850, bringing the total up to Rs 2,93,27,265.
"The Special Operation Team along with local police seized all the above foreign currency and 2 phones from the possession of the accused. The foreign currency was handed over to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has initiated action under Sections 3 &4 of Foreign Enforcement of Management Act, 1999. The matter is under investigation," the police stated.
Just earlier this week, the ED had seized a Tech Park in Hyderabad, belonging to Mack Soft Tech Private Ltd (MSTPL) for alleged violation of foreign currency rules.
Investigation officials said that they had seized Q-City Tech Park worth Rs 86.38 crore under the provisions of Section 37A of FEMA, in lieu of foreign assets illegally held abroad.
The ED said that foreign outward remittances on the pretext of purchase of software license and legal services were made by MSTPL with a view to siphon off funds from India and park them abroad.