Cops found two men carrying Rs 80 lakh in 500 rupee notes near the Brabourne Road flyover during a surprise check on Wednesday. 

Sushil Shukla and Sourabh Mukherjee were arrested when they failed to explain the source of the money, police said. 
No one has come to claim the money,  Vishal Garg, joint commissioner (special task force) and in charge of the detective department, said late on Wednesday.

Shukla and Mukherjee have told the cops that they work in an office on Maharshi Devendra Road in Posta.

“They are changing their statements every minute. Once they said it was a mistake accepting the money but did not name the person who gave it. Next moment they said they were going to deposit it in a bank,” an officer said.

The police have verified and found that the two spoke the truth about their place of work — a garment trader’s office in central Calcutta. But nothing has been found to relate the money to their employer, the police said.

The police have been carrying out surprise checks across the city ever since the Centre announced the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8.

Unconfirmed reports suggest some people are helping in the exchange of notes against a cut.  

On Wednesday, a sergeant stopped a yellow taxi on the Brabourne Road flyover around 1.30pm. 

“Two men on the back seat had cloth bags like the ones we use to carry vegetables. The sergeant found the notes wrapped in newspapers,” an officer in Lalbazar said. 
The cop alerted Burrabazar police station and a search revealed Rs 40 lakh in 500 rupee notes in each bag, the police said.
A seizure list will be submitted in court and the income tax department notified.

An income tax official said the money would be in the department’s custody for a stipulated period, after which it would be deposited in a government account if no one comes forward to claim it.