Three persons have been detained here on Thursday with scrapped currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth Rs 31.65 lakh, the city police said.

The police said they received a call that some persons at Shalimar Garden area gathered to exchange old currency notes were scuffling.

The police immediately mounted a search, and signalled a car to stop, but it tried to speed away. The car was, however, chased and stopped later.

One of the occupants of the car, Paramjit Singh during questioning told the police he is a realtor and construction contractor. He said he was called to the garden by Atul, who offered to exchange the old bank notes with new ones with 50 per cent discount. He would return to him new notes worth Rs 15.82 lakh.
 

"When we reached Shalimar Garden, Atul tried the snatch the entire money. Some persons present there called police following the scuffle," Paramjit told the police.

Other occupants of the car were identified as Rishi Kapoor and Shyamvir Singh.

"We have called the income tax officials. The department would take the legal action against them," said Superintendent of Police Salman Taj Patil.