Cops mull ‘proclaimed offender’ tag for Puri kin

The Gurgaon police are planning to announce Raghuraj Puri, the father of Citibank scam mastermind Shivraj Puri, a proclaimed offender (PO) and flash his photographs in print and electronic media.

The Gurgaon police are planning to announce Raghuraj Puri, the father of Citibank scam mastermind Shivraj Puri, a proclaimed offender (PO) and flash his photographs in print and electronic media.

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The police have failed to arrest the accused even as the Punjab and Haryana High Court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Monday.

Shivraj Puri, former relationship manager of the Citibank, is the main accused in the Rs 400-crore fraud case and was arrested on December 30. The police had told the court that Shivraj’s parents have masterminded the scam.

Raghuraj Puri, the executive director of foreign exchange firm Normans Martin, has been evading arrest ever since the scam came to light in December last year.

Meanwhile, the high court had granted Deeksha, Shivraj’s mother, interim bail till March 18. This means she has to join the investigation before that day.

According to senior police officials, though summons was issued several times to Raghuraj Puri, he did not turn up for investigation.

In a remand paper submitted before a Gurgaon court, the police had claimed that Raghuraj Puri's firm Norman's Martin had conducted transactions worth over R75 crore through his son Shivraj.

Police officials said the time had come to arrest Raghuraj. “We are going to flash his photographs in newspapers as well on channels. We may even declare a reward for those who would help the police in nabbing Raghuraj,” he added.