Citibank: Police seeks Puri's NSE transactions

The police have sought details of transactions undertaken by Citibank fraud mastermind Shivraj Puri from premier bourse National Stock Exchange.

Police, according to sources, have requested the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to provide details of sale-purchase transactions undertaken by Puri, a relationship manager with Citibank's Gurgaon branch, through different brokerage firms.

Puri used to invest the funds of clients in Nifty Index Options on NSE mainly through brokerage firms Religare and Bonanza.

Some funds were also routed through Norman Martin, a firm owned by a relative of Puri. When contacted, Gurgaon Police Commissioner S S Deswal said, "we are verifying contents of record with NSE with regards to transactions".

NSE has been asked to provide all relevant information on a CD, sources said, adding as many as 19 accounts were involved in the transaction in the fraud that had been estimated at Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).

Police, meanwhile, are also looking for iPad which was used by Puri to communicate with his clients, undertake transactions and store data. iPad, sources said, could provide vital clues along with exact modus operandi used by Puri to lure clients into investing funds into bogus schemes on promise of abnormally high returns.

The major clients who lost money in the Citibank fraud case include Hero Group promoters (Rs 250 crore) and managing director of Helion Advisors Sanjeev Aggarwal (Rs 33 crore).

The police had earlier in the week arrested Sanjay Gupta, Associate Vice President of Hero Corporate Services for allegedly colluding with Puri and investing huge funds belonging to promoters of the Hero Group.

Puri is reported to have paid a hefty commission of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) to Gupta.