Gujarat Man Arrested for Possession of 1 Crore Worth Banned Notes

Muhammad Siddiq Ibrahim Qureshi was found with 13,000 notes of Rs 500 and 3,500 notes of Rs 1,000.

File: Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were banned as legal tender on 8 November with few exceptions. 

(Photo: PTI)

A man was nabbed with old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 adding up to a crore in Jamnagar district of Gujarat on 3 November. Police was patrolling the area as a part of the norm ahead of state elections when they caught the accused.

Muhammad Siddiq Ibrahim Qureshi (60) was running away with the notes when he was held up by the police during checking. The police has been on rounds in the state ahead of Vidhan Sabha elections.

He was found with 13,000 notes of Rs 500 and 3,500 notes of Rs 1,000.

A case has been registered against the accused and sub-inspector BB Bagriya has ordered further investigation into the matter.

As per the law, to eliminate the “possibility of running a parallel economy”, holding of more than 10 scrapped notes has been made punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000.

The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, was passed by Parliament last month with a view to eliminating the “possibility of running a parallel economy” using the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that have been demonetised.

Holding more than 25 scrapped notes for study, research purposes attracts a fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the cash held, whichever is higher.

Since it's a criminal offence Qureshi's arrest may lead to a trial. The act can be read in the document below:

Many similar arrests have been made in the past. Recently, in Delhi, five men were arrested for carrying Rs 4.65 crore in old currency. In Hyderabad, five people were arrested after old currencies worth Rs 99 lakh were seized from them.

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