Cops sniff a scam in North Delhi bank

NEW DELHI: The crime branch of Delhi Police claims to have unearthed a money laundering racket being run from a private bank's branch in Naya Bazar in north Delhi. Cops have detected nine fake accounts, in which Rs 34 crore in old notes was deposited after the demonetisation was announced.

Joint commissioner (crime) Ravindra Yadav said that a me Ravindra Yadav said that a bank official, who is absconding, worked in connivance with other accused. Police have roped in the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the matter. The bank, however, denied the involvement of any of its officials in the case. "Two agents who had deposited the money in the bank accounts have been arrested. They have been identified as Rajkumar Goel (47) from Haryana and Ranjit (29) from Jharkhand," Yadav added.

The crime branch had chanced upon the racket while probing a cheating case. On September 16, a woman, Suman, had lodged a complaint at CR Park police station, reporting that about Rs 55 lakh had been debited from her account on September 3 and 5. She claimed that the money was transferred through cheques using RTGS. She complained that both these cheques were in her possession and forged cheques were used to transfer the money from her account. Accordingly, an FIR was registered.

"SI Devender Dahiya received information that one Raj kumar Goel based in Naya Bazar was the mastermind of these illegal transactions. He had reportedly floated a number of fake companies and converted illegitimate money into white money through RTGS transfers," Yadav said.

A team led by ACP Ishwar Singh began investigation and Goel and Ranjit were questio ned. The accused had initially opened an account in the name of Raj Enterprises at the private bank and the money was received in this account through RTGS. Ranjit's cousin, Upender, was named the proprietor of the firm. "During investigations, it was found that Rajkumar had opened a number of accounts in the name of different firms--RK International, Sapna Trading, Mahalaxmi Industries, Shri Ganesh Enterprises, etc. at Kotak Mahindra Bank, Naya Bazar, and has deposited unaccounted cash worth Rs 34 crore in them," joint CP Yadav said.

Subsequently both the accused were arrested. Two sets of PAN cards, voter I-cards and Aadhaar cards, which were used for opening different ac counts, were seized from them.They were produced in court on Friday and their custody sought to unearth the entire conspiracy .

Meanwhile, the bank said it had all necessary KYC documents of the customers. "The bank on its own, after observing the nature of transactions in these accounts, filed a report with Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). It has deposited the entire amount, which was credited with these accounts, to the income tax department. The bank has fully cooperated and communicated with the relevant authorities, and has demonstrated the highest standards of compliance and will continue to do so," said Rohit Rao, spokesperson, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

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