Mangalore: CCB Police Bust Hawala Racket - Arrest 27, Seize Rs 78 Lac

Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)

Mangalore, Oct 6: The city crime branch police led by inspector Venkatesh Prasanna and police commissioner Manish Karbikar carried out a massive raid operation on a house at Kodialguttu here on Saturday October 6, arresting 27 persons and seizing Rs 78,69,850 in cash.

The house in question was taken on rent by Suresh Kumar from Gujarat. He and his associates were involved in a hawala case, transfering big sums of money from people who wanted to evade tax or had black money.

Modus operandi: Suresh had associates in various places who would already have stock money. When a person would come with cash to be transferred to some place, he would pay the amount in this house, but the actual transfer would be done by the associate in that place using the money from his stock. The money would reach its destination within half an hour, while the amount paid here would go to the accused. For every lac, a commission of Rs 7,000 was charged, which was deducted from the cash reaching the recipient.

This way, the clients would evade tax and easily transfer big amounts of money going into several lacs. The hawala operation was based purely on trust and no records or receipts were maintained or exchanged.

The police team, based on genuine information, kept a keen watch on the house for seven days, and on Saturday conducted the raid at 4 am. Throughout the day, whoever came with big amounts of money was rounded up and put into a room. By evening the number of detainees reached 27. Some of them came with Rs 20 lac, some with Rs 25 lac and so on.

Apart from Rs 78,69,850 in cash, the police also recovered, 27 mobile phones, 17 bikes, and two hawala jackets (special jacket with many pockets).

The business used to run under the name of Patel Ashish Kumar Kanthilal and co, Ahmedabad.

The accused have been booked under Section 41 (d) of IPC and other sections.

Speaking to Daijiworld, CCB inspector Venkatesh Prasanna said that the police had suspected that the money brought into this house was being used for terrorism. "However, no such activity is taking place. It was only to evade tax and hide black money," he said.