MP govt mulls asking ED to probe fraudulent old notes exchange

The Madhya Pradesh government is mulling approaching the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the alleged exchange of old currency notes via fake bank accounts at a branch of a private bank in Katni district, officials said today.
"Some elements have exchanged currency (old notes) through fake bank accounts at a bank at Katni by forging the documents. The state government has decided that the ED should be urged to look into all these cases," said an officer of the MP government's Public Relations department.
"Accordingly, the ED has been apprised of these cases of alleged money laundering," the official added.

He said an inquiry earlier by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) revealed about this alleged exchange of old notes through fake accounts in four cases registered by police under relevant IPC sections.
"In light of the facts revealed in this (SIT) inquiry, the state government found it necessary to get the probe conducted into these alleged money laundering cases by the ED," he said.
The ED was apprised about these cases following Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's statement in this regard yesterday, when he said the police have limited powers to probe such matters, but their (police's) investigation would continue.

"So, we are informing the ED about these cases," Chouhan told reporters when asked in this regard after the vidyarthi panchayat at his residence.

Though the state government termed the transfer as a
"routine" administrative affair, the development triggered a series of protests in Katni, located about 365 km from Bhopal.
This morning, Congress MLA from Bahoriband, Saurabh Singh along with other protesters were arrested but later released.
Meanwhile, Congress alleged that the SP's removal was made to hush up the "scam".
"The name of a cabinet colleague of the chief minister also figured along with other influential people in this money laundering scam exposed by Tiwari," state Congress chief Arun Yadav alleged.

"In a bid to cover up the matter, the state government removed Tiwari from Katni SP's post within six months of this posting," he charged.
A Congress spokesperson said this alleged money laundering "scam" is worth over Rs 500 crore.
Earlier yesterday, the police prohibited protesters from gathering at Katni's Subhash Chowk, where the agitation was underway since past couple of days.
Police also arrested some protesters moving towards the local railway station and removed tents put up by them.