Mumbai man moves HC for exchange of old currency worth Rs 1L

A 47-year-old city resident has moved the Bombay High Court for an order to the RBI to exchange his demonetised currency notes worth Rs one lakh, which the police had seized from him in past and returned it only last week.

The man’s plea is likely to come up for hearing before a bench of justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai on April 3.

Matunga resident Sunil Mody, in his plea, has urged the court to ask the central bank to exchange his old currency notes with the new ones.

Mody pleaded that he could not exchange the old notes before the December 31, 2016 deadline, as the money was in the police custody till March 22.

Mody said he was arrested in 2013 after his wife filed a case of dowry harassment, criminal intimidation and causing hurt against him.

Accordingly, he was charge-sheeted and granted bail later.

During the course of investigation, the police had seized from him Rs one lakh in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, he said.

He added the notes were returned to him only after March 22 this on the trial court’s order.

He then approached the RBI, which said the facility to exchange the old, demonetised notes was available only to the residents who were abroad during the ‘cash ban window’ and not to ordinary people, he contended in his petition.

The petitioner argued that he was not at fault as the currency was lying with Matunga police and not with him.