Accused changing statements: cops

Changing statements by the accused in the Citibank fraud case has left the police puzzled. HT reports.

Changing statements by the accused in the Citibank fraud case has left the police puzzled.

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The police had sought the custody of Sanjay Gupta, associate vice-president (accounts), Hero Corporate Service limited, from the court citing the need to recover R3.94 crore cash from one of his rented properties, as disclosed by Gupta during interrogation.

It now turns out that Gupta's claim was false and he was trying to mislead investigating officials, the police said on Tuesday.

Gupta had allegedly received nearly Rs 20 crore as commission from Citibank employee Shivraj Puri for bringing investments from Hero Group companies as well as other HNIs. He had told investigating officials that he had hid Rs 3.94 crore under the bed of his rented house and no one was aware of it.

Gupta was arrested on January 2 and produced in a Gurgaon court that had remanded him to police custody till January 8.

Extension of his custody was sought to recover the cash amount, a Maruti Zen car he had bought in the name of his wife and also locate other immovable properties.

The police remand claimed that Gupta had confessed to having paid Rs 1.5 crore commission to three senior executives of Hero Exports for routing investment through him and Puri. Based on these pleas, the court had further extended the police remand of Gupta till January 13.

According to sources, police officials are trying to verify the authenticity of Gupta's claims. When officials asked him to take them to the house were he had hid the money, Gupta said he was lying.