Puri's counsel moves court, seeks meeting with client

The counsel of Shivraj Puri, alleged mastermind behind the Rs 300-crore Citibank fraud, moved a local court today, seeking permission for a private meeting with his client.

Puri’s advocate, Sartaj Bafana, said he had been to the police station where his client was lodged a couple of times, but was not allowed to meet him privately.

The advocate alleged two or three police personnel were always around during their conversation, so he could not prepare the defence for his client properly.

He, therefore, moved an application in court today, seeking its intervention to meet Puri without police presence. The court would take up the matter in this regard tomorrow.

Puri, a relationship manager with Citibank’s Gurgaon branch, was arrested and sent on a seven-day police remand on December 30.

A two-member team from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which arrived from Mumbai yesterday to question Puri, has gone back.

The Sebi team did question Puri and may question him again, Gurgaon DCP (crime) Mithlesh Jain said. However, he could not give details.

Sebi officials questioned the accused since the funds raised from companies and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) were diverted into the stock market.

Meanwhile, Gurgaon Police has already questioned senior officials of brokerage firms, Religare and Bonanza, through which the diverted money was invested into the stock market.

Religare Securities said Puri had been a client since December 2009. As on October 15, 2010, there was a balance of Rs 0.30 in his account, Religare said, adding, there had been no trading transaction in his account since October 1.

Since the investigating agencies were already seized of the matter, Religare was in the process of providing the details as required by investigating agencies, it said.

According to the police, Rs 200 crore belonged to companies, including the Hero Group. Individuals owned Rs 100 crore.