HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation has announced that the kingpin of the currency exchange fraud committed in different sub-post offices in the city K. Sudheer Babu, an Indian Postal Service officer of 2011 batch, has been arrested late on Thursday night.
The CBI said, in a press release, that Mr. Sudheer Babu, working as Senior Superintendent of Post offices (SSPO), Hyderabad City Division, has abused his official position and dishonestly and fraudulently misappropriated funds, which were under his custody meant for distribution to various post offices in the city for being exchanged with the old notes available with the common people. Mr. Sudheer Babu clandestinely misappropriated funds to the tune of Rs. 2.95 crore and exchanged these notes with old currency notes with private parties by taking commission.
In the process, records had been manipulated to show as if these amounts were exchanged in the routine course. During interrogation, his links with two agents/middlemen T. Nitin and V. Narasimha Reddy who actively assisted Mr. Sudheer Babu in committing the fraud by receiving part of commission came to light. The two had been arrested and the three were being produced before the special judge for CBI cases here on Friday.
The development follows three cases registered by the CBI, ACB in connection with the currency exchange fraud detected at Himayatnagar, Golkonda and Karwan Sahu sub-post offices. An amount of Rs. 17.02 lakh of new currency notes had been recovered. Seven persons had been arrested so far and the police seized 55 incriminating documents, few laptops and mobile phones during the searches conducted at 11 places in the city.
Further investigation into the case was underway, the release said.
