Chennai: A knock at a wrong address at midnight in Anna Nagar by two brokers for retrieving Rs 1 crore and the subsequent scuffle they had with a watchman there along with a call to 100 (police) from members of the public saw the city police stumbling upon the trail of Rs 1 crore worth banned notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 on Saturday night.
Police arrested brokers Rahman (28) of Jamin Pallavaram and Ammanuddin (64) from Nungambakkam for assaulting watchman Ramaswamy who was guarding the house of one Ahamed Aziz in A block in Anna Nagar. Ramaswamy had denied them entry saying that Ahamed Aziz was not at home.
Brokers said they had handed over Rs 1 crore of new notes to a businessman named Ahamed Aziz in JJ Nagar a few days ago in promise for gold bars valued at Rs 1 crore. After that, Ahamed Aziz became untraceable. The two believed that the man they were looking for stayed in Anna Nagar and went there to retrieve the money when they had the scuffle with Ramaswamy.
The two had a photograph of Ahamed Aziz in their phone and when they showed it to the people in Anna Nagar, they said that it was a different Ahamed Aziz who was staying in the house. Meanwhile, one of the onlookers had called up 100.
Based on the call, a police team from Anna Nagar police station reached the spot and the two brokers were picked up from the scene. After repeated attempts, the police team led by Anna Nagar crime inspector managed to establish contact with Aziz who had collected money from the two brokers promising gold bars. But he told the police that the money given to him was old notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 and they could be recovered from an ex-councillor’s office on Natesan Road in Ice House.
Police personnel recovered the cash and informed the Income Tax officials about the seizure of currency notes from the person in Ice House.
Now, the I-T sleuths have taken over the investigation to trace the origin of the currency. It may be recalled that only a couple of days ago, Anna Nagar law and order inspector was transferred to the control room for allegedly taking commission of Rs 36 lakh for exchanging old banned notes worth Rs 1 crore.
