CBI books ex-PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty in bribery case
New Delhi: The CBI has booked retired deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, the main accused in the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud allegedly perpetrated by Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, in a fresh case of receiving a bribe of Rs 1.08 crore from Rishika Financials that arranged bank guarantees for Gitanjali Gems, officials said.
It is alleged that the owner of Rishika Financials, Debajyoti Dutta, was in the business of arranging quotes of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) from foreign funding banks, they said on Monday.
The officials said that after getting confirmation from Dutta, Shetty used to issue LoUs using the international banking messaging service, SWIFT.
Dutta used to work for Gitanjali Gems, promoted by Choksi, and had allegedly raised bills of 0.05 per cent of the LoUs issued for the firm as brokerage, they said.
The amount used to get credited to Dutta's current account from which 40 per cent, over Rs 1.08 crore, was allegedly paid to Shetty between 2014 and 2017, the officials said.
LoU is a guarantee which is given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to an applicant. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability to the credit-giving bank along with accruing interest.
The companies of Modi and Choksi took loans from banks abroad on the basis of LoUs but did not repay them transferring the liability on Punjab National Bank (PNB).
It is alleged that Shetty bypassed PNB's core banking system, Finacle, and issued LoUs fraudulently, the officials said.
Shetty, who is alleged to have played a key role in the Rs 13,700-crore loan fraud while working as deputy manager at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, was arrested in March, 2018.
It was found during investigation that messages for fraudulent LoUs were sent to overseas banks by misusing the international messaging system for banking, SWIFT, and without making their subsequent entries in Finacle, thus bypassing any scrutiny of such funds in the bank, they said.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
