CBI Register Cases against Officials of Banks and Post Office in Demonetisation Fraud

It was alleged that subsequent to the Govt. of India Notification dated 08.11.2016, withdrawing the legal tender of existing Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- notes, Reserve Bank of India issued directions to all the banks restricting the cash withdrawal over the counter per day to Rs.10,000/- and aggregate per week to the tune of Rs.20,000/-. The accused entered into criminal conspiracy with known persons and exchanged SBNs (Rs.1000/- and Rs.500/- demonetised currency notes) to the tune of Rs.44,35,500/- (approx) in 86 transactions without obtaining the details of SBNs and customer’s particulars (KYC documents) in the prescribed form and thus favoured his known persons in exchange of SBNs ignoring the interest of public who were in dire need of legal tender in view of the demonetisation. Search was conducted at the residential premises of the accused at Guntur.

The another case has been registered against the then Sub-Postmaster, Sub-Post Office, Gandhi Place, Visakhapatnam & then Postal Assistant both working in Sub-Post Office, Gandhi Place, Visakhapatnam and unknown public servants / private persons U/s 120-B r/w 406, 409, 420 & 477-A of IPC and Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of PC Act, 1988

It was alleged that during the period between 10.11.2016 and 24.11.2016, the said Postal Officials while working in the Sub-Post Office, Gandhi Place, Sriripuram, Visakhapatnam had entered into criminal conspiracy with the unknown private individuals and in pursuance of the conspiracy, they had unauthorizedly & fraudulently exchanged Rs. 21,88,000/- (approx) of valid denominations against the Withdrawn Old Series (WOS) currency notes without obtaining the valid identity proofs of the tenderers on commission by violating Guidelines issued by RBI and Government of India. Searches were conducted at the residential premises of the accused at Visakhapatnam.

The investigation of both the cases is in progress.

http://cbi.nic.in/pressreleases/pr_2017-04-08-4.php

Searches were conducted at the office & residential premises of accused including alleged depositors / Postal account Holders in & around Bhubaneswar which led to recovery of incriminating documents. A bank locker key; documents related to various bank accounts & immovable property (a Duplex at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district & land / plots at Ugalapada & Patharagadia in Khorda district); a cash of Rs. 04.40 lakh (approx) were recovered from the residence of one of the depositors (a Superintendent of Central Excise at Bhubaneswar). Investigation of the case is continuing.

http://cbi.nic.in/pressreleases/pr_2017-04-08-2.php

It was alleged that the Branch Manager (Scale-II) and Assistant Manager (Scale-I), both working in Punjab National Bank, Sadhopur Ki Jhal Branch, Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar (Uttar Pradesh) entered into criminal conspiracy and in pursuance thereof, a current account was opened in favour of one Proprietor of Ghaziabad based private firm on the basis of forged & bogus documents. It was further alleged that post demonetization, in contravention of the guidelines dated 8.11.2016 issued by the Reserve Bank of India, the public servants in collusion with other unknown persons facilitated the deposit of a sum of around Rs.2,13,40,000/- (invalid specified bank notes – withdrawn bank notes in the denominations of Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/-) in the Current Account opened in the name of said Proprietor on different dates between 11.11.2016 to 29.11.2016. It was also alleged that the public servants deliberately omitted to collect the identity proof of the depositors (as mandated by Reserve Bank of India) and thereby facilitated these depositors to conceal their identity & dishonestly allowed the deposit of invalid specified bank notes to the tune of Rs.2,13,40,000/- (approx) in contravention of the guidelines issued by RBI and thus cheated the Government of India by depositing the invalid Specified Bank Notes.

Further investigation is continuing.

http://cbi.nic.in/pressreleases/pr_2017-04-08-3.php

It was further alleged that the said accused in criminal conspiracy with each other availed credit facilities i.e Term Loans, Working Capital limits etc from Punjab National Bank, Chandigarh. It was also alleged that the said firm got discounted forged & fabricated export bills and fraudulently siphoned off the disbursed bank funds. These discounted export bills remained unpaid and thus caused wrongful loss to the bank.

Searches were conducted today at 03 places including residence & official premises of accused at Chandigarh and Mohali (Punjab) which led to recovery of incriminating documents and electronic evidences.

The another case has been registered u/s 120 B r/w 420, 467, 468, 471, 477A of IPC and u/s 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of PC Act on a complaint from Canara Bank relating to an alleged fraud committed by a Jabalpur based private firm & its four directors and the then Branch Incharge , Jabalpur Branch, Canara Bank  & unknown others. An alleged loss of Rs. 43.77 crore (approx.) was caused to the complainant bank.

It was further alleged that the said accused in conspiracy with each other availed credit facilities from Canara bank, Jabalpur branch on the basis of fake and fabricated documents. The funds disbursed by the bank were siphoned off, causing wrongful loss to the bank.

Searches were conducted today at 05 places including residence & official premises of accused at Jabalpur and Reva (Madhya Pradesh) which led to recovery of incriminating documents.

Further investigation in both the cases is continuing.

http://cbi.nic.in/pressreleases/pr_2017-04-09-1.php

In the first instance, the accused officer allegedly obtained illegal gratification from a Proprietor (also an accused & resident of Kolkata) of Construction Company based at Ambedkar Nagar(UP) for building project in, New Town, Kolkata Development Authority.

In the second case, it was alleged that the illegal gratification was obtained from another accused, a Director of Construction company based at Guwahati(Assam) for public works at the ONGC Tripura Power Company, Udaipur, Tripura.

Searches were conducted over 8 states at more than a dozen locations, including Lucknow, Bhagalpur, Purnia, Bastar, Bilaspur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Udaipur(Tripura), Bhubasneshwar, Raurkela and Delhi. The significant information and evidence that emerged during these searches are being examined for further investigation.

http://cbi.nic.in/pressreleases/pr_2017-04-08-1.php