Cops hunt for mystery woman

The probe into the R300-crore Citibank scam has taken the police to a mystery woman who allegedly used to accompany the main accused whenever he went to meet his clients. Faizan Haider reports.

The probe into the R300-crore Citibank scam has taken the police to a mystery woman who allegedly used to accompany the main accused whenever he went to meet his clients.

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One of the complainants, who had invested nearly R1 crore after being lured by Shivraj Puri has mentioned in his complaint that the accused had come to his house along with a middle-aged woman. "He claimed the woman was his wife but later we found that Puri had an estranged relation with his wife. The woman is someone who is working in the same branch of Citibank and used to meet clients posing as Puri's wife," said a police officer who didn’t wish to be named.

“There are nearly two dozen high net investors and all of them have a different story to tell. We have prepared a list of all of them and meeting them.”

One of the victims said he had alerted the bank about the mismanagement of funds in his account. “My account was handled by Shivraj Puri who offered us 8.75% interest per annum so we deposited a huge amount. It was supposed to mature on December 20 this year,” said Suresh Talwar, 67.