Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move has an unexpected victim: the police department.

Why? Because the police department literally has stacks and stacks of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in safes at their police stations.

The ban on currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 has left the police confused. What is to be done with the crores of rupees that had been seized and are stacked at various police stations and the vigilance directorate?

Police sources said that as the seized currency was the property of the court after registration of case, this money could not be exchanged without the permission of the courts concerned.

“In case of seizure of huge amount of money, we generally deposit it in the government treasury with court’s permission. But there are other cases, such as gambling, excise raids and recovery of money during other raids. We keep the money in the malkhana (store room) of police stations. We don’t have any right to dispose of the money without court’s permission,” said a police officer.

Police sources said that other investigating agencies, such as crime branch and Economic Offences Wing, which function under the crime branch, would also face similar problems relating to the seized cash.

Another police officer pointed to a potentially embarrassing situation in the event of the case being decided in favour of the accused and the court asking the department to return him the seized money.

“This could happen anytime. But we are not sure how to return him the seized money,” said an official.

A report from Bhubhaneshwar said that there are around 600 police stations in the state. Sources said that currency worth crores of rupees was gathering dust in the storerooms. Besides, there were court storerooms that also keep cash till the hearing is over.

“In disproportionate assets cases, the seized money is deposited in banks. But in other cases, the seized cash is stored in the malkhana with court’s permission. But as Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes have been withdrawn, we don’t know what to do with them,” admitted a vigilance official.

Director (vigilance) R.P. Sharma said that the directorate had been opening temporary bank accounts to keep the seized cash. “There are cases in which we have seized money lying in our storeroom. With the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, we will chalk out a plan to ensure that the seized cash does not lose its values,” said Sharma.

Lawyers also felt that the Centre’s move posed a dilemma for the police. “The seized notes are produced in the court as exhibits and those cannot be changed or altered. It is impossible to ascertain the exact time of conclusion of trial in such cases. So, it is obvious that the seized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes will lose their value by that time,” said  an advocate.

  business, demonetization, economy, money, naked truth, Prime Minister Modi