B’luru bank official booked for helping convert scrapped notes worth Rs 71 lakh

A Bengaluru bank manager allegedly issued 149 demand drafts to a private firm and accepted payments in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to help convert illegal income worth Rs 71 lakh into legitimate money.

A Bengaluru bank manager allegedly issued 149 demand drafts to a private firm and accepted payments in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to help convert illegal income worth Rs 71 lakh into legitimate money.

Discontinued Indian currency notes of 1,000 denomination are seen after they were deposited by people at a bank in Bangalore, India. (AP File Photo)

Investigators from the Central Bureau of Investigation told HT that F Lakshminarayana, a senior manager at the Basavanagudi branch of Central Bank of India, allegedly issued the demand drafts for amounts less than Rs 50,000. A case has been registered against him.

In this way, the CBI said, Lakshhminarayana helped convert Rs 71.49 lakh of black money into white. The demand drafts were purchased by two Bengaluru-based businessmen.

This is the latest in a string of similar cases where individuals have connived with bank officials to launder illegal incomes and escape detection after the government recalled high-value banknotes about a month ago to stamp out black money.

Bengaluru was recently been in the news after Rs 4.7 crore in the new Rs 2,000 notes were recovered from two state bureaucrats. In a separate incident, a deputy superintendent of police too was caught for allegedly trying to help some realtors convert black money to white.