Senior RBI official arrested for alleged involvement in currency exchange

A Senior Special Assistant of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Bengaluru for his alleged involvement in currency exchange.

The Enforcement Directorate earlier in the day seized Rs. 93 lakh in new currency notes from seven middlemen here.

One of the ED officials presented himself as customer to these middlemen.

The middlemen had some link with bank officials.

The Enforcement Directorate is conducting further investigation to ascertain the links.

Since November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government's move to demonetise high-denomination currency of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000, many cases of seizure of new cash has come to light.

Recently, Rs. 13.50 crore were seized by the Income Tax Department from a law firm in Delhi's Greater Kailash out of which Rs. 2.61 crore were in new currency.

Earlier in the city, four bank officers were accused by the police of converting black money after Rs. 5.7 crore cash was seized from a hawala operator.

While endless queues at banks and ATMs reflect a cash crunch and less than adequate number of Rs. 500 and 2,000 notes, crores in new cash has been found in raids across the country over the past few weeks.