VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another racket spawned by demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, 10 employees of a cash logistics firm that replenishes cash in ATMs have been busted by the Vizag police on Thursday for stealing new currency from the ATMs and exchanging them for old notes for a commission.
The gang members are all employees of Security Management Services (SSMS) which loads cash into ATMs of various banks. They are said to have stolen Rs 74 lakh in new currency and exchanged Rs 39 lakh in Vizag since November 8.
The arrested men have been identified as D Srinivas (36), a native of Vizianagaram and a resident of MVP Colony in Vizag, B Rambabu (35), P Venkateswarulu Dora ( 26), R Ganesh Venkata Goutham (28), L Manoj Kumar (26), P Nookayyasetty (34), K Deepak Kumar (34), S Mahesh Babu (36), B Satish Kumar (31) and V Kesava (46). Of them, L Manoj Kumar is the SSMS manager at Visakhapatnam and the rest are loaders, security guards and drivers. The firm SSMS has a memorandum of understanding with several banks, including SBI and, HDFC Bank.
Parading the accused before the media, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Naveen Gulati said the gang had been stealing money from ATMs for three years and had siphoned off a total of Rs 1 crore. Since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on Nov. 8, they managed to set aside Rs 74 lakh of which they gave Rs 39 lakh to different people in exchange for old notes at a hefty commission.
"For about Rs 20 lakh in new currency notes, the gang demands Rs 25 lakh of old currency. The Rs 5 lakh commission is shared among them and the rest they planned to deposit in banks. We have recovered from them around Rs 35 lakh in new currency (Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 denominations)," the DCP explained.
The gang's luck ran out on Thursday when the Railway Protection Force (RPF) took Dasari Srinivas, the main accused, into custody after he was moving around suspiciously with Rs 15 lakh cash in new Rs 2,000 notes at Rajahmundry.
Suspecting foul play, they sent him to the Income Tax (I-T) Department. As he belongs to Visakhapatnam, the I-T officials forwarded the case to their Visakhapatnam counterparts, who in turn handed him over to the local police.
According to the DCP, three or four of the accused, including Deepak and Mahesh, scout people who are in desperate need of new currency and make arrangements for the money exchange. D Srinivas was in Rajahmundry to meet one such client and hand over the cash. The police are yet to trace the gang's clients.
Besides, the police are yet to recover the Rs 1 crore the accused had stolen over the course of three years.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the gang had given new currency to some parties and were even cheated in a few cases. With some of the amount, they also cleared their debts and loans.
"We need to investigate whether there is any involvement of bank staff. We have to find out who the recipients of the new notes were," said Gulati. The police said the gang members had been filling cash in 128 ATMs including 98 belonging to SBI, in the Vizag city limits. The police are in talks with the bank authorities to ascertain the loss caused by the gang.