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Kerala Police arrested Congress leader K P Punnose,on charges of cheating after he was found dealing in Yugoslavian currency worth 105 crore.

Kerala Police Sunday arrested local Congress leader K P Punnose,brother of evangelist and archbishop K P Yohannan,on charges of cheating after he was found dealing in Yugoslavian currency worth 105 crore.

Yohannans Pentecostal group Believers Church receives foreign contributions for charity works. Punnose,president of Niranam village panchayat in Pathanamthitta district,runs an NGO,Olive Mount. A youth from Chennai,Vimalraj,an alleged middleman was also arrested.

Pathanamthitta district police superintendent Putta Vimaladithya said prima facie,currencies seized from Punnose are out of circulation. Punnose might have tried to cheat somebody claiming to circulate the foreign currency through his account eligible to receive foreign contributions. Police would seek the assistance of RBI and the Enforcement Directorate to verify whether these currencies are in circulation and if so,its value. We have to inspect Punnoses bank accounts to see his deals, said Vimaladithya.

Police said Vimalraj had collected foreign currency from two persons in Chennai. Punnose had prevailed upon dealers that these currencies could be redeemed through his account. In a previous deal with the same persons from Chennai six months back,Punnose had collected Rs 25 lakh commission for circulating Yugoslavian currency.

Punnose son Reni said he was not aware of his fathers dealings,but Niranam panchayat member P C Purushan said he had not known any charity activity done by Punnose.

On Saturday evening,Vimalraj came with the notes. There was an altercation between Vimalraj and Punnose over commission. Vimalraj tried to snatch away the notes. Local people in Thiruvalla nabbed him suspecting him to be a pickpocket. The duo was asked to appear before the police on Monday to verify details,said police.

Police said they were told the currencies were not in circulation,but available in Chennai. Punnose seemed to have been collecting commissions from others promising to circulate these currencies.

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He was away from panchayat for two or three days in a week. He was known to travel to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka regularly. But we were not familiar with his business, said Purushan.

Yohannan had faced charges of misusing tsunami rehabilitation to get aid from foreign countries. He allegedly received more than 1000 crore in two decades. In 2005,Yohannan purchased 2,263 acres of rubber estate from Harrisons Malayalam Plantations Limited for Rs 63 crore.