E-Paper
Parents plotted Citibank fraud
Raghuraj Puri and his wife Deeksha Puri asked Shivraj, who was a relationship manager with the Gurgaon branch of the bank, to forge market regulator Securities and Exchange Bureau of India circular to lure high-net individuals and corporates, the police told the court.
It was the parents and not Shivraj Puri who scripted the R400-crore Citibank fraud, the Gurgaon police claimed on Friday.
Raghuraj Puri and his wife Deeksha Puri asked Shivraj, who was a relationship manager with the Gurgaon branch of the bank, to forge market regulator Securities and Exchange Bureau of India circular to lure high-net individuals and corporates, the police told the court.
“Shivraj’s parents asked him to convince customers that through a Citibank scheme he would get their money invested in the share market through Bonanza and Religare brokerage firms,” the police said in the document, a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times.
The parents showed their son where to invest the money and Deeksha, 53, bought 67kg gold — worth R13.65 crore — from the embezzled funds, the court was told.
The police had previously denied the parents’ role in the fraud but during the course of the investigation found that a lot of money went to Norman Martin Brokerage Company, owned by Raghuraj and Deeksha. “Being associated with a brokerage company, both had full knowledge of the share market. Shivraj didn’t know much... but was capable of influencing customers,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
