Mumbai: Three booked for illegally obtaining notes worth Rs 7.9 crore

Mumbai: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has registered a case against the director and chief finance officer of a private firm, based in Pune, and an official of one more private firm in Pune, and unknown bank officials, who were, allegedly, illegally acquiring new denomination notes worth Rs 7.97 crore, after the Centre’s demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 notes on November 8.

The agency’s probe will identify specific banks’ officials who may have played a role in the irregularities. The CBI First Information Report (FIR), named Sudhir Puranik, director of a Pune-based oilfield machinery firm, Mangesh Annachhatre, the firm’s chief finance officer, and businessman Satyen Gathani of Pune.

“It was alleged that the accused, during November and December, 2016, entered into a criminal conspiracy with unidentified officers, officials of banks, and unidentified people from private firms, and illegally obtained new notes issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to the tune of Rs 7.97 crore,” said a CBI official.

“Out of the converted sum, there were 39,893 numbers of new notes in the denomination of Rs 2000 and 19 new notes in the denomination of Rs 500 from unknown banks. The accused had cheated the Government of India,” said the official.

The agency conducted searches at 40 locations in Pune, including the residential and official premises of the accused and suspected, which allegedly led to the recovery of incriminating documents.