Gujarat police have arrested two government employees for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes, a crime that has perplexed investigators because of a limit set by the government on withdrawal of new currency.

The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) officials say they nabbed two Kandla Port Trust officials in Kutch — superintendent engineer Shrinivasu and sub-divisional officer Kumtekar – by laying a trap for one Rudreshwar Sunamudi, who allegedly came to collect the bribe on behalf of the duo.

But police are at a loss to understand how the money was procured because the government has imposed a Rs 20,000 weekly limit on the withdrawal of currency.

Rs 2000 notes were introduced last week after a surprise recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in a bid to end corruption and drain illegal cash from the economy.

Police say Sunamudi was allegedly the middleman who was to pay Shrinivasu Rs 2.5 lakh and Kumtekar Rs 1.5 lakh. All three have been arrested.

Police say they were tipped off by a person, from whose company the bribe was sought. The authorities laid a trap at the complainant’s office and even recorded phone calls allegedly made by the middleman through the complainant’s landline to one of the accused

The complainant’s company is engaged in providing service and supply to the port trust. A bribe was allegedly demanded against a show-cause notice by the trust to the complainant’s firm for pending work.