E-Paper
It's gold that glitters for Puris
Call it obsession with gold or a form of investment. In a startling revelation in the Citibank fraud case, the Gurgaon police submitted in court on Friday that prime accused Shivraj Puri and his mother Deeksha Puri had purchased gold worth Rs13.65 crore.
Call it obsession with gold or a form of investment. In a startling revelation in the Citibank fraud case, the Gurgaon police submitted in court on Friday that prime accused Shivraj Puri and his mother Deeksha Puri had purchased gold worth Rs13.65 crore.
The investigation team, that had so far restrained from calling Deeksha an accused in the Rs400-crore fraud, has now claimed that the gold is in her possession and they need to arrest her to make a recovery.
"During the course of interrogation, Shivraj had told us that he had bought gold with the money. Further investigation revealed that the mother-son duo had bought 67.3 kg of gold which Deeksha has hidden somewhere," said an officer who did not wish to be named.
The Gurgaon police also have three witnesses to prove the purchase of gold.
"Pankaj Malik Jewellers, Bhupender Raj Wadhwa (mediator) and delivery boy Gopal have confirmed the purchase of jewellery. Now we need to arrest Deeksha to get details of the money invested in the share market. To recover the gold, her custody is important," the officer added.
Parents of disgraced Citibank relationship manager Shivraj Puri, Raghuraj and Deeksha, have applied for anticipatory bail but the police have requested the court not to grant them bail as their custody is vital for the case.
After working on the Citibank fraud case for almost two months, the police have now reached a conclusion that the scam was hatched by the Puri family in their Hamilton Court home in Gurgaon. Sources in the police department said Puri had also diverted a huge sum in the real estate sector and mostly in upcoming projects.
"Puri told the investigation team about his various investments. He booked several flats and was paying monthly instalments. Many of them are under construction. As the instalments were not paid for the last few months, builders may think of selling the property. We have identified the flats and have issued letters to builders requesting them not to sell the assets," said a senior police officer.
