A day after three Central Crime Branch (CCB) policemen were suspended for their alleged involvement in fake raids to recover demonetised notes and possibly in seized notes amounting to ₹1.5 crore going missing from the CCB strongroom, the city police arrested the middleman who tipped them off about a currency-conversion racket. It was a BMTC conductor allegedly involved in the racket who led the police to the CCB men after the trio “seized” demonetised notes from him, claiming it to be part of a raid.
The police on Saturday arrested Ramesh Raju, 39, a real estate agent from Yelahanka who had tipped-off the CCB policemen about the conductor.
However, the three policemen — assistant sub-inspector of police Hombale Gowda and constables Narasimhamurthy and Gangadhar — are absconding.
The three CCB policemen, to cover up for the demonetised currency they had seized from a businessman from Tamil Nadu which had gone missing, allegedly conducted a series of fake raids to recover the money. The charade fell apart when the conductor, Suban, approached the Seshadripuram police claiming that three policemen from the station had seized demonetised currency of over ₹1 crore from him.
A probe led the police to the three CCB policemen, against whom a case has now been booked.
Ramesh Raju was approached by Venkatesh, another middleman whom Suban had approached seeking conversion of demonetised currency for a commission. Ramesh Raju, who was known to the three CCB policemen, played a double agent, leading Suban and Venkatesh to believe that he would get them a deal to convert the old notes with them but instead tipped-off the CCB policemen. The CCB policemen conducted a “raid” and recovered the cash, but did not report it. Instead, they used the money to replace the amount they had allegedly misused from the CCB strongroom.
The police are also trying to ascertain the source of demonetised currency that Suban was trying to convert.
Senior police officials said they had information that it belonged to one Asif, whom they are trying to track down.
