Three men, with 12 Lakhs in new notes, were arrested in Punjab for drug smuggling.
The police in Punjab say they have arrested three drug smugglers with more than Rs 15 lakh in cash and 600 grams of heroin. The possibility that the drugs and the cash, which may be counterfeit, could have come from Pakistan, is being investigated, police said.
Of the money seized, Rs 12 lakh was found in new notes of Rs 2,000. Police said they are investigating the source of the new currency notes which were only released last month and have been in short supply.
The three men, identified as Karaj Singh, Malkeet Singh and Jaswinder Singh, are residents of Ferozepur district. They were caught by the Punjab police's counter-intelligence wing on the basis of a tip-off on Saturday.
"Gurnam Singh from the border village of Muhawa had sourced a consignment from Pakistan and handed over a part of it to Karaj Singh. Gurnam was arrested on December 15 with 5 kg heroin and on the basis of his interrogation today's raid was conducted," MF Farooqi, a senior police officer, said.
"We will request the court to get the currency notes checked from a competent authority while the Pakistan angle is still under probe," he said.
The country has been reeling under a severe cash shortage since the centre scrapped 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, which formed 86 per cent of the country's currency, on November 8 to combat corruption and tax evasion.
Crores of rupees in new 2,000-rupee notes that are not so easily available at banks and ATMs yet have been found in hundreds of raids across the country in the last few weeks.