A private bank official, arrested in a case of alleged irregularities related to the conversion of old currency and supply of new notes, has moved a Delhi court seeking bail on the ground that he has no role in it.
32-year-old Vineet Gupta, now suspended branch manager in Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch here, sought bail claiming that he had no role in currency conversion and no recovery of articles have been made by Enforcement Directorate (ED) from him.
The bail plea is slated to come up for hearing tomorrow before Additional Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhat.
The bail application moved through advocate Sanjay Gupta said ED has alleged that there was violation of KYC norms in the bank accounts of persons involved in the case and even if there was any violation, it does not require his custody.
Special Public Prosecutor Vikas Garg, appearing for ED, opposed the plea, saying the agency has CCTV footage of the bank's branch which showed that co-accused Rajeev Kumar Kushwaha, along with others, had brought crores of rupees in mango cartons and deposited the money.
He further claimed that the footage showed that the cashier did not even count the money and cash was brought in big bags to be given to Gupta as commission.
Gupta, Kushwaha, suspected to be the mastermind behind floating of shell companies, and 33-year-old Shobit Sinha, now suspended manager (operations) in the bank, are lodged under judicial custody till January 9.
Gupta and Sinha were arrested by ED on December 4, 2016 and later on suspended by the bank. Subsequently, Kushwaha was also apprehended.
ED had earlier told the court that the two officials, in connivance with others, had indulged in illegally changing demonetised currency into new notes.
It had claimed that the probe has revealed that Rs 39 crore in cash was in question and several companies were involved in the case. It had said a gold brick worth Rs 39 lakh had been recovered from Sinha while another is yet to be found.
It had claimed that Kushwaha "used the identity documents of various persons to form shell companies" through which cash deposits of Rs 39 crore were made between November 10 and November 22 in "close connivance" with the two bank managers.
ED had said the two bank officials were taking one per cent commission against the total amount of money deposited.
They agreed to accept the commission in the form of gold bar which was worth Rs 39 lakh, it had said.
Axis Bank had said in a statement, "The bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. In this particular case, the bank has suspended the erring employee and is cooperating with the investigating agencies.
ED had claimed that the probe has revealed that Rs 39
crore in cash was in question and several companies were involved in the case. It had said a gold brick worth Rs 39 lakh had been recovered from Sinha while another is yet to be found.
It had claimed that Kushwaha "used the identity documents of various persons to form shell companies" through which cash deposits of Rs 39 crore were made between November 10 and November 22 in "close connivance" with the two bank managers.
ED had said the two bank officials were taking commission against the total amount of money deposited.
They agreed to accept the commission in the form of gold bar which was worth Rs 39 lakh, it had alleged.
The case was first detected by Delhi Police after it allegedly intercepted three persons with about Rs 3.7 crore cash in old notes in front of the Axis Bank branch in November last year. The ED took cognisance of the police FIR and slapped money laundering charges against the accused.
Axis Bank had said in a statement, "The bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. In this particular case, the bank has suspended the erring employee and is cooperating with the investigating agencies.
