BENGALURU: Four people who allegedly cheated a cabbie and his cousin by claiming they could get demonetised currency notes sold to people who would deposit them with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been arrested.

Banned notes with a face value of Rs 1 crore have been recovered from them.

Rajendra Prasad, 49, of KR Puram, Suresh Kumar, 40, of Wilson Garden, Shanawaz, 45, of Adugodi and Sathish K, 40, of Deepanjalinagar, were arrested after cab driver DM Nagaraju, 52, of Bagalur Cross near Yelahanka filed a complaint against the quartet and alleged they'd cheated him and his cousin.

Preliminary probe revealed Rajendra befriended Nagaraju at an Indira Canteen in Malleswaram in the first week of November 2019. He kept in touch and gained his confidence. He told Nagaraju he could help him make money by trading in demonetised notes.

According to Nagaraju, Rajendra told him he knew people in possession of demonetised currency who were ready to sell it at 10% of the face value and also those who would buy it at a higher price and exchange it with RBI.

"Rajendra stage-managed a deal where an acquaintance sold Nagaraju banned notes with a face value of Rs 1 lakh for Rs 10,000 and arranged for another man to pick them up for Rs 15,000 the next day. Thinking he could make easy money, Nagaraju came on board," a police officer said.

Nagaraju contacted his cousin Rajanna SD and the duo decided to invest. They arranged for Rs 5 lakh each and purchased banned notes with Rs 1 crore face value on January 16. Rajendra promised to get them sold in three days. The fraudsters met Nagaraju and Rajanna at Hebbal on Monday and collected the notes, saying they would contact them soon. When the quartet didn't return and their mobiles remained switched off, Nagaraju approached Hebbal police.

A member of the police team that nabbed the gang told TOI, "The accused claim to have collected the notes from a man in Kerala.