People wait in a queue outside a Punjab National Bank ATM in New Delhi, India, February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Saumya Khandelwal
NEW DELHI: India's federal police arrested two employees at Punjab National Bank believed to be key figures in the $1.77 billion fraud disclosed by the country's second-largest state-run lender earlier this week, a police source said on Saturday.
Police arrested Gokulnath Shetty, who was a deputy manager at Punjab National Bank, and Manoj Kharat, who was described by the source as a "single window operator" at the lender.
The police also arrested a third person, Hemant Bhat, whom the source described as the "authorised signatory" of the companies tied to Nirav Modi, the billionaire jeweller also believed to be at the centre of the fraud.
All three will appear in a Mumbai court later on Saturday, the source said.
The investigation and "examination of others is continuing," the source said.
