Don’t fall for note dealers: Mumbai Police Commissioner

Mumbai: The Mumbai police has instructed its officers to communicate to citizens at the police station level to not fall prey to conmen offering them lucrative deals for exchanging demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. When approached with such an offer, a citizen can directly complain to the zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), apart from the concerned police stations, according to Mumbai police commissioner DD Padsalgikar.      

When contacted by The Asian Age, Mr Padsalgikar said, “We have told senior officers, the police spokesperson and police station heads, to communicate to citizens that they should not fall prey to persons offering them dubious deals related to demonetised notes.” Mr Padsalgikar said, “When approached by such persons, a citizen can approach the police stations and the DCPs.”

Citizens should only rely upon the regular “banking channels” for transactions related to old notes, according to him.

The Mumbai police department has also warned its rank and file that strict disciplinary actions will be taken if their role is detected in any fraud related to old notes, said another police officer. The police move came in the light of at least three cases reported across the state, wherein roles of seven police officers are under the scanner for their alleged roles in duping victims who wanted to exchange their old denominated notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for new ones. In one of the cases, which occurred in Mumbai, the Mumbai police last month suspended an assistant police inspector (API) attached to the Santa

Cruz police station for allegedly conspiring with three others to dupe a builder by promising him new notes in exchange for the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000s ones with a face value of Rs 3 crore. The API was allegedly at the spot when the other three accused had fled with the old notes of the builder. The arrested trio had offered to help the builder in builder exchanging his bundles of old notes with new ones at a bank.

The Navi Mumbai crime branch also recently arrested two local policemen — a head constable and an inspector — and a property agent for allegedly cheating a Mumbai-based businessman. According to police officers, on November 12, at a time the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes stood demonetised, the businessman met a middleman asking for his help in changing his old currencies with the face value of Rs 46 lakh.

Ten days ago, three constables attached to Mira Road’s Naya Nagar police station were booked for allegedly helping a property broker dupe a woman of her old notes worth Rs 8.5 lakh.

The three cases were reported since November 8 when the Centre demonetised Rs 500 and 1,000 notes as part of a crackdown on unaccounted wealth, counterfeit currency trafficking and terror-finance.