The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered 77 cases related to “corruption and malpractice” since November 8, 2016 when the government scrapped the old notes of ₹ 500 and ₹1,000. The CBI said Aadhar card numbers of children were misused to deposit old currency notes in banks.
“Several cooperative banks in Maharashtra and Gujarat” were found to be involved in illegal exchange of notes, the agency said.
Some individuals had got hold of new currency notes within days of the old notes being scrapped. “Since there were restrictions on individuals in terms of withdrawal of new currency, investigation is on to find out how they could come in possession of such amounts,” a CBI statement said.
The agency said it had also registered seven preliminary enquiries into the alleged corruption cases. Illegal tender around ₹396 crore had been recovered so far .
The CBI said it received 92 complaints from the general public which reported such illegal exchange in various organisations. “Some private individuals (26) and 21 public servants ( mainly from post office and the banking sector) were nabbed with huge amounts of new currency,’’ CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
Mr. Dayal said the cases related to fraudulent exchange of demonetised notes at commercial banks, co-operative banks, post offices, railways and insurance company.
The CBI claimed that it was ensured that every information related to such violations should be entertained and examined and, if required, cases registered.
“Several shell companies were identified during the course of investigations. Concerned law enforcement agencies have been informed of these shell companies for action on their part,” the statement said.
At places, new currency notes received in normal sale/transactions had been replaced by some officials with old currency notes to deposit with banks on behalf of these organisations. “Forgery of documents to open new accounts, deposit money and then transfer this money to other accounts was found in a number of banks.”
CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma had asked the agency’s officers to give top priority to demonetisation related cases, Mr. Dayal said. The teams investigating the cases had been instructed to complete the investigations within the set time frame.
"At post offices, manipulation and even destruction of records was resorted to, to facilitate deposit of old currency notes,” the CBI said.
The fraudulent exchange of old currency notes took place mainly at commercial and cooperative banks (59 cases), post offices (18), Railways (5) and insurance firm (one case).
