Intelligence Bureau officers seized 268 bundles of newspaper cuttings resembling cash bundles, each of which was covered with a demonetised ₹1,000 note, at Vadavalli in Coimbatore on Saturday.
Police sources said IB officers from New Delhi led the search operation at a mansion in Lakshmi Nagar, Vadavalli, in collaboration with the local police. The searches were conducted based on a tip-off. The building was unoccupied during the search operation. The IB officers and police personnel came across the bundles of demonetised cash. They found that there was one demonetised ₹1,000 note covering each bundle. Hence, with 268 bundles, the officers seized demonetised notes with a face value of ₹2,68,000, sources said.
A total of 667 bundles resembling cash bundles were seized. Along with these bundles, officers seized a currency-counting machine and a stapler machine.
The property belonged to Anandan, who was said to be a DMK functionary, sources said. The tenant, Rasheed, was absconding along with two other suspects, Feroze and Sheikh.
The Vadavalli police have registered a case against the four under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 489B (Using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency-notes or bank-notes), 120B (Criminal conspiracy) and 109 (Abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act. Efforts to nab the accused are on.
