Four arrested for selling US dollars in Badaun, probe set up

LUCKNOW :Four people, including a couple, were arrested on Sunday on charges of fraudulently selling US Dollars in Badaun, said police. The Badaun police have registered a case against the accused and initiated a probe into the matter. Police said $224 with a market value of around ₹15,000 was recovered from them. They said efforts were on to try and reach the source of this currency.

“The accused -- natives of West Bengal, currently living in Delhi -- sold these dollars to a local businessman who alerted the police. They were arrested from a public park in the Civil Lines area,” said Jitendra Kumar Srivastav, superintendent of police, Badaun.

› The accused had charged a businessman ₹100 for every dollar. They told him that he would be able to sell the dollars at double the price in the coming days JITENDRA KUMAR SRIVASTAV , SP Badaun

The arrested accused were identified as Ali Abbas and his wife Nargis, residents of JJ colony in Delhi, and Sakoor Alam and Rahima of Sialdah, West Bengal. “Sakoor and Rahima met Ali and his wife in Delhi and together they came to Badaun,” said the SP. The four have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy on the basis of a compliant lodged by the businessman.

“The accused had charged the businessman Rs 100 for every dollar. They told him that he would be able to sell the dollars at double the price in the coming days,” said Srivastav.

Apart from tracking the source of the foreign currency, police said they were also looking into other aspects of the case.

“The story narrated by the accused that they came to Badaun to sell dollars doesn’t add up. We are probing other aspects too. A thorough background check of each of the accused has been ordered,” said a senior police official of the district.

All four have been sent to judicial custody.