CBI books bank officials for illegal exchange of Rs 1.51 cr

The CBI has registered a case against an official of State Bank of Mysore in Karnataka and some unknown persons for allegedly facilitating illegal exchange of Rs 1.51 crore old currency notes for the new ones by violating the RBI and Central government guidelines on demonetisation.
The agency acted on a tip off that the Head Cashier of State Bank of Mysore's Kollegala Branch in Karnataka's Chamarajnagar district, along with some unidentified bank officials and private individuals, had exchanged new currency notes against the old ones beyond the prescribed limit.
The CBI claimed that the accused, while working as Head Cashier and custodian of currency chest of the bank, had conspired with various private individuals and other unknown bank officials in unauthorised exchange of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to the tune of Rs 1,51,24,000.

The exchange had taken place between November 10 and 13 without following the guidelines of the Government of India and RBI, a CBI release said.
The accused facilitated few private individuals to convert their ill-gotten money to legal tender and exchanged the demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 with issuable legal tender of Rs 100, without obtaining any proof of ID or approval of the branch head in excess of the maximum permitted exchange amount of Rs 4,000 per person, it said.
The demonetised notes were allegedly deposited into the currency chest of the branch along with other cash of the branch, thereby disguising it as genuinely exchanged currency, it said.

Simultaneous searches are being conducted at Kollegala and other places in Karnataka in this regard, the CBI added.