Middleman arrested in money exchange racket case

The police on Saturday arrested a man, who is believed to have acted as a middleman between three absconding CCB policemen and demonetised currency exchange racketeers.

According to the police, the arrested man, Ramesh Raju, is a resident of Yelahanka, and has strong links with the Central Crime Branch police, especially with its homicide, burglary, fraud and misappropriation squads.

The three CCB policemen - ASI Hombalegowda, and head constables Narasimhamurthy and Gangadhar - have gone missing since they robbed Rs 1 crore from Subanna S Managi, a member of the currency exchange racket.

Managi, a  BMTC conductor by profession, became part of the racket to make some quick money to settle loans. The police filed a case at the High Grounds station based on Managi's complaint about the robbery.

The FIR names six suspects - Venkatesha, Sathyanarayana, Chandrashekar, Vishnu, Ragini and Rathna, among others.

In his complaint, Managi had said three men, posing as officers  from the Sheshadripuram police station, robbed old currency  notes worth Rs 1 crore when he was in a car with Venkatesha.  Later, it turned out that they  work with the CCB and not at the Sheshadripuram station, as they had claimed.

"The three are still absconding, while we are in the process of interviewing the six suspects, who were part of the money exchange racket," DCP Central Division Chandragupta told DH.

"We are not aware of the developments at the CCB regarding this case," he added.