Chennai: 4 bankers in soup after Rs 25 lakh robbery case cracked

Chennai: Exposing major chinks in the banking industry at the time of demonetisation, Chennai police on Sunday arrested five persons, including four bankers for allegedly helping to launder lakhs of rupees for some customers for a commission following the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

Police identified the arrested as Lokeshwara Rao, manager of State Bank of Mysore, I Avenue, Sastri Nagar, J. Elangovan, a cashier working in the same bank, Elangovan’s driver Shakthivel, Mukesh, assistant manager of Axis bank in Nanganallur and Manikandan, assistant manager of the same bank in Velachery branch. The bank employees were arrested for malpractices.

“We don’t know how many bankers are helping the black money holders this way. Only this incident came to our notice. This is certainly not the government expecting from bankers,” noted a senior police official.

The bankers’ activities came to light when the police patrol team found the State Bank of Mysore, Sastri Nagar branch working on Friday midnight.  Police became suspicious and conducted enquiries when bank employees confessed that they went to exchange Rs 25 lakh of old notes when they were robbed at knife-point.

SBM employees decided to keep back at least Rs 22 lakh new notes by giving Rs 25 lakh of old notes to Axis bank managers. “SBM team had given away new notes worth Rs 37 lakh to some influential customers without records. When questions were asked from the top they decided to keep back at least Rs 22 lakh worth new notes. And for that they negotiated with Axis bank employees,” sources said.

Police said that SBM employees  Lokeshwara Rao and Elangovan had been exchanging old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to the new Rs 2,000 on commission basis to certain customers unofficially. When it was detected, they sought help from employees of Axis bank.

Elangovan contacted a few middle men who promised to change the old currency and got in touch with Mukesh and Manikandan of Axis Bank, police revealed.

As per the deal, Elangovan was to deliver Rs 25 lakh old notes, and the managers of Axis bank were to give back Rs 22 lakh in new notes.  Managers of Axis bank were to get Rs 3 lakh commission.

As per the plan Elangovan, took the money in the car driven by Shaktivel and reached Zamin Pallavaram to exchange the money. Meanwhile, three men on motorbikes, intercepted Mr Elangovan’s car on Old Pallavaram Road and robbed the money from him at knifepoint and escaped,” the officer added. Later, a Elangovan and Shaktivel return to the bank and inform Lokeshwara Rao about the incident at midnight.

That is when the police spotted the bank operating in the midnight and conducted enquiries. Apart from arresting the five, the police have detained two middlemen named Guna Sekaran and Dinesh Babu. Rs 25 lakh robbed from cashier Elangovan is still not traced.