An Reserve Bank of India (RBI) official was arrested on Tuesday in Bengaluru for allegedly helping convert banned notes. Eight men have also been arrested in a series of raids in which crores in new notes have been found.
K Micheal, a senior special assistant with the RBI Bengaluru, has been arrested by the CBI. He was allegedly involved in helping convert black or untaxed money. More than Rs. 1.50 crore was involved in one case.
Investigators pretended to be customers to catch the eight middlemen allegedly involved in laundering black or untaxed money for a price. Around Rs. 93 lakh in new notes was found on them in raids over the weekend.
One of the arrested men is the relative of government engineer SC Jayachandra, whose interrogation reportedly led officers to the eight middlemen allegedly charging 15 to 35 per cent commission to convert old notes banned on November 8 by the government to choke tax evaders.
Sources in the Enforcement Directorate told NDTV that the arrested men are suspected to be part of a wider ring that operated not just in Bengaluru but in other districts too.
Earlier in the city, four bank officers were accused by the police of converting black money after Rs. 5.7 crore cash was seized from a hawala operator.
While endless queues at banks and ATMs reflect a cash crunch and less than adequate number of Rs. 500 and 2,000 notes, crores in new cash has been found in raids across the country over the past few weeks.
