MUMBAI, January 28: The Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai, on Tuesday arrested Dinesh Buva, one of the main accused in the South Indian Bank case, from Pune. Buva had absconded when the alleged fraud, involving illegal remittances with the use of bogus bills of entry, was detected in February 1996.Foreign currency to the tune of US dollars 8,41,98,518 were allegedly remitted abroad through the Nariman Point branch of the bank on the basis of bogus import documents.
In a remand application filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the court on Tuesday, Buva is alleged to have been responsible for depositing Indian currency and bogus documents, leading to the remittance of the currency, equivalent to Rs 269 crore.
Former manager of the branch, Kasturi Rangan, had identified Buva (from a photograph) and told the Enforcement Directorate that he was the person who came to deposit the Indian currency during the period (1991 to 1994), which is now under scrutiny of the ED. Other accused, including DeepakMelwani, Mahendra Sanklecha, Harshad P Mehta, Sanjay Udeshi and Hemant Barot have already allegedly named Buva in their statements to the investigating agency. Enforcement Directorate investigations after the scam were detected have established that the documents that were used in the transactions were fictitious.
While Buva identified two of the accused (Harshad Mehta and Hemant Barot), he denied any involvement in the transactions under examination.
The additional CMM, 47th court, has remanded Buva to judicial custody till February 10.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
