5 bank employees among 7 held for money laundering

CHENNAI: A day after a cashier lodged a complaint that he had lost 25 lakh near Zameen Pallavaram, police arrested seven people in Sastri Nagar - five bank employees, including the complainant, and two mediators.
Police found that the employees of two banks were in the process of exchanging old currency notes for new ones for a commission when they were robbed. The robbery plan was hatched by the mediators.
The arrested have been identified as Lokeshwar Rao, bank manger, State Bank of Mysore at Shastri Nagar; Elangovan, cashier; Elangovan's driver Shakthivel; Mukesh, assistant bank manager of Axis Bank at Nanganallur; and Manikandan, assistant manager of the same bank in the Velachery branch.
On Friday, police found Lokeshwar Rao and Elangovan in the bank after midnight. When investigators questioned him, Elangovan claimed they lost 25 lakh to two men at knifepoint.
A detailed probe revealed Lokeshwara Rao and Elangovan had taken old notes from a few customers without proper documents, promising to replace them with new ones.
Elangovan contacted five mediators who agreed to arrange for new notes for the demonetised currencies. They introduced him to Mukesh and Manikandan from Axis bank.
The duo agreed to provide him with new notes for a commission of 3 lakh.
"After striking a deal, Elangovan took the money in a car with his driver Shakthivel and reached Zamin Pallavaram to exchange the money," an investigating officer said. "When the two were waiting on the road, a duo riding a motorcycle robbed them at knifepoint and escaped."
Elangovan and his driver panicked, rushed to the bank at Sastri Nagar and told Lokeshwar Rao what had happened.
A preliminary probe revealed that the mediators whom the bank officials contacted for exchanging the money had arranged two people to commit the robbery.
Based on the confession of Elangovan, police nabbed two mediators - Gunasekaran and Dinesh Babu. Investigators are interrogating the suspects mediators.