City police bust hawala racket, n Staff Reporter

 

 

 

Cracking a whip against hawala trading, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone III Gajanan Rajmane on Friday raided a major hawala hub near Anaj Bazar in Itwari and seized Rs 84,00,650/- cash during the raid.

DCP Rajmane told ‘The Hitavada’ that there were 22 shops situated in the two buildings -- Bhutada and Sons and Ganesh Chamber near Anaj Bazar, Satranjipura, Itwari. Bhutada company is the owner of the Bhutada and Sons building while Ganesh Chamber is owned by one Babu Bhai.

“We got a tip-off about hawala trading being done by the shopkeepers in the garb of small trading business,” informed DCP Rajmane. After confirming the information, DCP Rajmane and staff of Lakadganj Police Station arrived at the spot and started searches at the shops. A total of nine police teams were engaged in the raid. The police found lockers in the shops being used by the shopkeepers to store cash. DCP Rajmane said that police checked the lockers and found the amount stored in the four lockers. He further informedthat Rs 44,00,650/- were recovered till 7 pm and later Rs 40,00,000/- were recovered from another shop around 8 pm. The searches were on till late night and more cash was likely to be seized, added DCP Rajmane.

Officials of the Income Tax Department were alerted by the police after recovering the huge cash. The cash will be handed-over to IT officials for further action. The police are performing panchnama of each shop for further action.

It may be mentioned here that Nagpur is one of the major centres of hawala racketeers and the racketeers are using buses and train services to transport the money. The hawala racketeers are operating the business under the garb of other small businesses. Most of the hawala racketeers are residents of Gujarat State. ACP Sachin Thorbole was also present during the action. seize Rs 84 lakh