Hyderabad: The ministry of finance is concentrating on the money exchange cases in South India especially the one involving former TTD board member J. Sekhar Reddy.
Investigative agencies have submitted a preliminary report to the ministry and to the Reserve Bank of India on the modus operandi of a few bankers who reportedly assisted Sekhar Reddy in exchanging old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency denominations with new Rs 2,000 for four days after banks reopened on November 10.
Based on the currency series numbers, the agencies have identified the banks and suspect the role of about 10 bank senior officials in diverting the currency directly from Specialised Currency Administration Branches in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The similar cases came to light in Karnataka.
An official said that it had confirmed the role of a few bank officials. “Still investigation is going on. We are focusing on how the bankers managed to submit Know Your Customer details of customers and exchanged old currency notes of up to Rs 4,000 at a time in the first four days. We are verifying how they submitted Aadhaar or other ID proofs in the name of 25,000 customers to exchange Rs 100 crore. We are also verifying the role of other bank staff. The investigation is still in its preliminary stages,” the official said.
