Bank manager arrested in note case

TT, New Delhi, Dec. 28: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a branch manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank in connection with an ongoing probe into deposits totalling Rs 34 crore in nine fake accounts.

Agency sources said Ashish Kumar, the manager of the Kasturba Gandhi Marg branch, was arrested late on Tuesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was produced before a designated court that granted his police remand till January 2, an ED official said.

The agency is also probing Kumar's suspected links with arrested Calcutta-based business Parasmal Lodha who is now in the agency's custody.

He was arrested last week in a multi-city operation on the charge of converting demonetised notes valued at Rs 25 crore into valid currency.

During interrogation, Lodha is said to have told the ED that he converted only Rs 7 lakh worth of demonetised notes into valid currency over the past one month and the old currency belonged to some of his "influential friends".

Last week, Delhi police had arrested two persons for allegedly depositing black money worth Rs 34 crore in nine fake accounts in the Naya Bazar branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank in Delhi.

Fake-receipt arrest

A Hyderabad businessman was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly cheating and generating "fake and fictitious" advance payment receipts from customers to deposit Rs 98 crore in black money in banks, reports PTI.

Kailash Chand Gupta, 65, runs three jewellery and bullion firms with his two sons, a daughter-in-law and another woman as directors.

Central Crime Station, a wing of Hyderabad police, arrested Gupta for his alleged involvement in cheating and manipulation of records for illegal gain.

Besides Gupta, his kin and others have been booked by police under the IPC for their alleged role in the "conspiracy".

Another businessman, Naredi Narender Kumar, the MD of a private firm and brother-in-law of Gupta, was arrested for abetment and hiding Gupta from police.