570cr seizure: CBI team grills SBI, Tirupur district officials

COIMBATORE: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has questioned senior district administration officials in Tirupur and State Bank of India officials in Coimbatore, in connection with 570 crore seized in trucks heading to Visakhapatnam from the Coimbatore main branch of SBI.
In May, the static surveillance team (SST) had seized three trucks with 570 crore on the Perumanallur-Kunnathur Road.Following "cash for votes" allegations against AIADMK and a DMK petition, the Madras high court had ordered a CBI probe into the incident.
A team of CBI officials led by inspector Ravi from Chennai were in Coimbatore and Tirupur in the past few days to probe senior district administration and SBI officials.
According to sources, Ravi and his team had visited Tirupur district collectorate on Thursday. They met collector S Jayanthi and questioned her about the detention of the three trucks carrying 570 crore in cash.
The Tirupur district administration, sources said, has maintained a separate file in connection with the incident and the same was handed over to the CBI inspector.
The CBI team also visited the SBI main branch in Coimbatore and has been camping there for the past three days.
SBI officer Durairaj said CBI sleuths had visited the bank on Tuesday. He, however, refused to reveal more information. SBI assistant general manager Rajagopal also didn't respond to calls. According to sources, at the time of the seizure, the then SBI deputy manager (cash), Ramesh had told the media that Coimbatore SBI main branch had a chest where more than 1,000 crore can be stored. "The money was transferred to Visakhapatnam as per the RBI's instruction. And it was a genuine transaction," Ramesh had told reporters. Ramesh was later transferred to some other branch.
After many political parties claimed that it wasn't SBI's money and that it belonged to political leaders, who planned to use it for bribing voters during the state assembly election, the Madras high court ordered a CBI probe into the money transaction.
The CBI officials would now prepare a detailed report and file it before the Madras high court soon.