After the arrest of seven middlemen, the CBI officials made their search for the root of money laundering racket. Following the leads, they arrested a Reserve Bank of India official in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Michael Kattukaran, a senior special assistant at RBI’s issue department in Bengaluru and two other persons were arrested by the CBI special investigators. The arrest is also linked to the money exchange racket of State Bank of Mysore’s Kollegal branch. An amount of Rs. 17 lakhs was seized from the arrested in the new currency notes of Rs. 2000 notes.
Michael Kattukaran and his accomplices were reportedly involved in a total of 12 cases of money laundering. The accomplices included State Bank Mysore’s head cashier Parashivamurthy, who was arrested earlier this week.The total worth of the money that went into the illegal exchange of demonetised notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 by these officials was estimated to be Rs. 1.51 crores.
They were accused of exchanging the old notes with the new currency of Rs. 2000 without legal documents. Michael Kattukaran is the first Reserve Bank of India executive to be arrested in relation to money laundering.
RBI officials released a statement that Kattukaran was sent to the currency chest of Kollegal to remit new currency notes after Demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016. He allegedly along with Parashivamurthy and others converted money illegally benefiting 13 different parties. They were charging 30% commission on these illegal transactions.
