RBI Official Arrested For Exchanging Currency On Commission

New Delhi: A senior official of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is one of nine men arrested in Bengaluru by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), for allegedly exchanging Rs1.50 crore of banned currency notes by taking commission.

According to official sources, K. Michael, a special assistant with the Bengaluru branch of RBI, was caught by the CBI in a sting operation.

The other eight people were middlemen who allegedly got money converted for a fee. Nearly Rs1 crore was found in the raids that were conducted over the past few days. "They charged between 15% to 30% for conversion," a source said.

The CBI unearthed this scam by having its officials pose as 'customers' looking to get old currency exchanged for new currency, and after paying a commission as bribe to the alleged middlemen.

Sources said that one of the middlemen was related to a government official. These arrests are the latest in a slew of arrests since November 8 - when demonetisation became effective - for money laundering or illegally exchanging currency.