The Peramanallur police on Tuesday detained four people from Coimbatore for having unaccounted cash worth Rs 36.10 lakh, which were mostly in new notes of Rs 2,000.

During a check on the Salem-Kochi bypass road at Kanakkam palayam Pirivu near Perumanallur, police found the cash in a car going from Coimbatore to Perumanallur around 1am on Tuesday.

Four people were present in the car, which included, llayaraja, (35), a postal employee from Coimbatore, his relative Kuppuraja, (31), Aarun Rashid, (34) and Dulfukar Ali, (39). 

None of them were able to explain the source of money which led the I-T department to detain them.

Following an investigation by three I-T inspectors, it was stated that Illayaraja and Kuppuraj had promised Rashid and Ali that they would get all the old notes exchanged from an unknown client at a commission of 10%.

Both the money and the car were seized by the police department. 

The I-T officials are questioning all four of them and also suspect that Illayaraja might have misappropriated funds from the postal department.

After a string of IT raids on three businessmen in Tamil Nadu earlier this month, officials had found 177 kg of gold and cash amounting to Rs 96 crore in withdrawn notes and Rs 34 crore in the new denomination notes. 

Moreover, IT officials had also found Rs 24 crore in Rs 2,000 notes stashed inside a car in Vellore, earlier this month.