Rajkot: Amreli police arrested two Bhavnagar residents with 3,150 demonetized currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations, having face value of Rs 23 lakh on Wednesday night. It is suspected that the duo was taking the banned currency to Nepal where these notes are still believed to be in circulation.Amreli local crime branch officers had information that two people on bike were going to Babra from Bhavnagar with the demonetized currency. Based on the information, cops intercepted and arrested Aniruddh Gohil and Raju Solanki both residents of Bhavnagar district.They were found in possession of 1,500 notes of Rs 1,000 denomination and 1,650 notes of Rs 500 denomination.During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal, his counterpart K P Sharma Oli had urged PM to facilitate exchange of demonetized Indian currency notes held by Nepal’s banks and general public.According to sources in the income tax department, after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal, some agents in India were hoping to exchange demonetized notes via Nepal and had started accepting the now scraped notes from some of the people after charging heavy commission. They planned to send the notes to Nepal via Uttar Pradesh boarder, they added.“We suspect that these notes are being routed to Nepal because they (agents) hope that RBI will open a window to exchange the demonetized Indian currency notes lying with banks and traders in Nepal.”On May 14, the special operations group (SOG) of Rajkot had seized demonetized notes with face value of Rs 2 crore near Shastri Maidan in Rajkot. The duo found in possession of the notes were booked under the Cessation of Liability Act, 2017.D S Bhatt, joint commissioner of police in Rajkot, said, “We have informed the income tax department about the seizure of demonetized currency notes. Now, they will investigate the financial links.”

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