Citi fraud- Hero Group CFO Sanjay Gupta arrested

Gurgaon, Jan 3: The Rs 300 crore Citibank fraud case seem to getting bigger and murkier with the nature of the people involved in it. After the scam kingpin, Shiv Raj Puri surrendered to the Gurgaon police, the police have arrested Hero Group CFO Sanjay Gupta as well for his alleged involvement in the case.

Gupta has been accused of referring the tainted relationship manager Shiv Raj Puri's name to other employees within the Hero Group in return for a commission of Rs 20 crore from Shiv Raj Puri. With Gupta's arrest many more skeletons will tumble out of the closet of this high-profile case.

Officials have raised suspicion of many other officials in the case. Cases of employees of Hero Group investing in schemes promoted by Puri has come under the limelight. Estimated to the tune of Rs 50 crore, the scam has hit the reputation of the bank.

Police officials investigating the matter revealed that most of the money was fraudulently collected by Shiv Raj Puri and channelised through two brokerage firms namely Religare and Bonanz. According to Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal, of the Rs 300 crore involved in the fraud, Rs 200 crore belonged to corporates and Rs 100 crore to individuals.

The Hero Group had earlier given a public statement that they were the victims of the Citibank fraud. "Some of the Hero Group entities, along with some others, are victims of the fraud conducted through one of the Citi branches in Gurgaon," the statement said.

The schemes aimed at high-net worth individuals was carried out using fake SEBI forms and promised people of high returns for non-existent schemes.

OneIndia News