Hyderabad: Postal cash exchange scam mastermind K. Sudheer Babu surrendered before the CBI on Thursday and was being interrogated.
He was absconding since the scam broke and postal department suspended him for unauthorised absence. CBI DIG and head of Hyderabad branch V. Chandrasekhar said Babu was forced to surrender after agency pressure.
The CBI registered three FIRs against Babu and another postal employee and searches were conducted at 11 places in the city, which yielded Rs 17.02 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes, incriminating documents, laptops and phones.
Four persons — mediator Shaik Abdul Ghani and postal employees G. Srinivas, G. Ravi Teja and K. Suresh Kumar were arrested.
The checks conducted along with vigilance officials has revealed misappropriation of new currency to the tune of Rs 2.95 crore. Fraud was detected at post offices of Himayatnagar, Golconda and Karwan Sahu.
Sources said Sudheer Babu was hiding in Srisailam. He escaped soon after the scam broke on November 24. “He was hiding in the houses of distant relatives. Most of the time he was in Srisailam. He surrendered as he has no option,” a source said.
He said two or three friends of Sudheer Babu were his front men who got in touch with small traders to exchange cash.
Babu claimed he didn’t think that it was a serious crime as he was depositing old currency and accounting for the money.
