The men were caught from Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi.
Two people were caught by the police in Delhi for possessing old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth Rs 62 lakh, news agency ANI said in a report. The men were picked up from Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi.
ANI further said that the two men bought the old notes using new currency worth Rs 14 lakh.
The Delhi Police has launched an investigation to determine how these men got their hands on the old currency.
The government had discontinued the old currency notes in November 2016, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation. After the announcement, the Centre had replaced old Rs 500 notes with new ones, but no replacement for Rs 1,000 notes were made. Instead, new Rs 2,000 notes were introduced post note ban.
The government then gave people time till March 2017 to deposit their old currency notes at post offices, banks and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In 2018, the RBI issued new-look currency notes in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 50 and Rs 200. And in 2019, the RBI introduced new lavender-coloured Rs 100 currency notes. It had asserted at the time that all Rs 100 currency notes issued earlier would also continue to be legal tender.
Demonetisation yanked 86 per cent of the currency in circulation, leading to a temporary cash crunch especially in rural India. However, the move, described by PM Modi as essential in checking corruption, received wide public support.
The demonetisation also led to increase in digital payments due to the shortage of cash. Along with debit and credit cards, the number of transactions using digital wallets also saw a huge jump.