TimesView It is surprising that long after all avenues for their exchange have been exhausted, demonetised currency should still surface. The face value of the notes in the present seizure is astronomical too. The seizure suggests that the last of these notes has not been seen, which should have the authorities worried. A careful probe needs to be conducted to find out where the people who accept these notes get them exchanged.

PUNE: A councillor from Sangamner near Nashik and four others were detained here on Thursday night for allegedly carrying over 48,000 demonetised notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination. The face value of the seized currency is around Rs 2.99 crore.The Khadak police said the five were detained when they came to Raviwar Peth to get the notes exchanged. The police are searching for the man who was to get the notes exchanged for them.“The detained men said the person who was to exchange the notes had told them he would charge a commission of Rs 14 lakh for every Rs 1 crore of demonetised notes. An offence under the relevant sections of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act has been registered against them. We have also informed the income-tax department about the seizure of the notes,” senior inspector Rajendra Mokashi told TOI.The police said one of the detained men, Gajendra Abhang (47), is a member of the Sangamner municipal council. The other four — Vijay Shinde (38) of Wakdewadi, Aditya Chavan (24) of Bhugaon, Navnath Bhandagale (28) of Karvenagar and Suresh Jagtap (40) of Phaltan in Satara district — work as real-estate agents.The police said they seized 11,900 notes of Rs 1,000 denomination and 36,000 notes of Rs 500 denomination from the five men.Mokashi said the men were detained following a tip-off received by assistant inspector Vaibhav Pawar. “Pawar got to know that they were coming near Bandivan Maruti temple in Raviwar Peth to exchange the notes. We laid a trap and took them into custody. We found 200 bundles of Rs 500 notes with Abhang and 119 bundles of Rs 1,000 notes from the others,” he said.Pawar said the five men were detained before they could exchange the notes. “Abhang has admitted that he owned Rs 1 crore. The other four have not revealed much about their notes. They were in touch with each other over the phone. We are now seeking the court’s permission to investigate the matter further,” he added.