Court reserves order on bank official’s plea

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) A court here on Tuesday reserved order on the bail plea of a private bank official, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a demonetisation fraud case, seeking to surrender in an another related case.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry fixed January 12 for announcing order on the plea moved by suspended branch manager (operations) in Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch, Vineet Gupta seeking to surrender himself in another case probed by Delhi Police.

Meanwhile Public Prosecutor Balbir Singh argued that suspended manager's plea is not maintainable at this stage and no purpose would be served by bringing the accused in this court.

Gupta's counsel said that his client is booked under corruption charges therefore it should be proceeded with in a court having jurisdiction to try the Prevention of Corruption Act matters.

Gupta, then branch manger Shobit Sinha and Rajeev Singh Kushwaha, who is a practising accountant, were arrested in a money laundering case at Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch here and currently are in judicial custody.

The three were accused of converting about Rs 40 crore in demonetised notes into gold through banking channels and are booked under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to the ED, Gupta and Kushwaha were allegedly involved in converting black money into white by reportedly misusing banking transfer systems like RTGS and NEFT in the wake of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

The ED has contended its probe revealed that Rs 40 crore worth of currency and several companies were involved in the case, and one gold brick worth Rs 39 lakh has been recovered from Sinha while another is yet to be recovered.