The Income Tax Department may get a case registered with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate allegations that demonetised currency notes of ₹120 crore were illegally exchanged using certain accounts with the Jain Cooperative Bank here.
Income Tax officials searched the premises of bank executives earlier this week, following a tip-off that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines on exchange of old notes had been violated and certain people had recycled cash using fraudulent accounts.
Transaction records of the bank, post-demonetisation, are also being scrutinised. The agencies also suspect that some bank officials got their own cash of about ₹3.5 crore exchanged with the notes available with the bank.
Fraudulent action
The case was detected after Vinay Jain, a resident of Gandhi Nagar in east Delhi, lodged a complaint with the Daryaganj police on December 2 alleging that some unknown persons found at least nine savings account at the Jain Cooperative Bank showing him as a witness, without his knowledge.
According to the FIR, the account numbers 21456 to 21464 were opened showing Mr. Jain as a witness. The complainant alleged a criminal conspiracy.
“I had gone to the bank for some personal work when I came to know that some accounts had been opened projecting me as a witness. When I asked the bank officials to share the details, they refused to divulge any information. I called up the Police Control Room for assistance. An area police officer enquired the matter with the bank officials, following which they told me that nine such accounts had been opened,” Mr. Jain told The Hindu .
He lodged a complaint with the police seeking action against those involved.
Scary prospect
“At the time they shared the details, these accounts had a cumulative balance of about ₹20 lakh. They were opened soon after the demonetisation move was announced on November 8. I received calls from several persons who tried to dissuade me from pursuing the matter. Had I not lodged the complaint, one day the agencies would have knocked at my door thinking I am the culprit,” he said.
Thousands of bank accounts in different parts of the country have come under the scanner of the enforcement agencies like the Income-Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the CBI for suspicious transactions after November 8. Shell company accounts with Noida and Kashmere Gate branches of Axis Bank are being investigated for alleged illegal exchange of demonetised notes. A significant part of the funds were used to purchase gold. A few days ago, the ED arrested a manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg branch here for allegedly helping a lawyer Rohit Tandon recycle ₹38 crore.
