B'luru: CBI arrests senior RBI official for converting Rs 1.5 cr black money

Bengaluru: A senior Reserve Bank of India (RBI) official was arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly helping convert demonetised currency notes.

According to reports, 8 men have also been arrested in a series of raids in which crores in new notes have been found.

K Micheal, a senior special assistant with the RBI in Bengaluru, has been arrested by the CBI for allegedly helping convert black or untaxed money of a value more than Rs 1.5 crore.

Pretending to be customers, investigators caught the eight middlemen allegedly involved in laundering black or untaxed money for a price. Around Rs. 93 lakh in new notes was found on them in raids over the weekend, said reports.

One of the men is a relative of government engineer SC Jayachandra, who was arrested recently after Rs. 5.7 crore in new notes was found during raids at his home. It was Jayachandra’s interrogation which led the investigators to the 8 alleged culprits.

The middlemen were charging between 15 to 35 per cent commission to convert old notes banned on November 8 by the government, said reports.

The arrested men are suspected to be part of a wider ring that operated not just in Bengaluru but in other areas too.

Earlier, four bank officers in the city were accused by the police of converting black money after Rs 5.7 crore cash was seized from a hawala operator.

Crores in new cash has been found in raids across the country over the past few weeks, including a stash of Rs 93 lakh found in Jaipur on Monday.

Recently, Rs. 13.50 crore were seized by the Income Tax Department from a law firm in Delhi's Greater Kailash out of which Rs. 2.61 crore were in new currency.