TV actor held with 43 lakh in new notes

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh, it appears, has emerged as the major spot for illegal cash transactions post demonetisation announcement with Income Tax probes revealing that the state reported highest cases of undisclosed cash in new denominations.
The latest case is from Hoshangabad district where police intercepted an SUV and seized Rs 43 lakh in new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denominations on Thursday.Police suspect the accused including TV actor Rahul Chelani had illegally exchanged scrapped currency notes.
The seizure was made by Hoshangabad's Kotwali police during a routine check of vehicles near Bhopal Tiraha at around 3 pm. Police were questioning the suspects TV actor Rahul Chelani, his brother and driver.
A resident of Itarsi town, Rahul Chelani is a TV actor, police sources said. Hoshangabad Kotwali in-charge M S Chouhan led the team which made the seizure.
The SUV had a plate of 'President, Anti-Corruption Society'. On suspicion when the vehicle was stopped and searched, cash stashed in a travel bag was found. While Chelani maintained that it was his hard-earned money from film industry, police were looking at the possibility of money laundering and currency swapping business.
Hoshangabad SP Ashutosh Pratap Singh said that they had specific information about a gang involved in exchanging old currencies for new at a margin of 30 per cent. A special team was constituted to check the information.
During initial investigations Chelani tried to mislead police claiming that he was taking cash to his uncle in Hoshangabad. And also that he had withdrawn some of the currencies from bank. He also said his accountant would produce relevant documents to ascertain that the money was not black.
Police and income tax authorities who are questioning the suspects.