Crime branch busts big hawala racket in Etah district of UP

Etah: The crime branch of Etah in Uttar Pradesh on Monday claimed to have unearthed big-time nationwide hawala racket, arresting two Gujarati residents and another one hailing from Varanasi with Rs 2.25 crore in cash.

The racket is believed to have connections in other parts of the country and involvement of some big fishes. It was a joint probe by the crime branch, Intelligence Bureau, local Intelligence and Income Tax department.

“We were informed about the racket by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Etah Ashok Kumar Tripathi. Now, actions will be taken against the persons found responsible under the income tax act,” said the deputy commissioner of Aligarh income tax department Ajay Kumar, who was leading the probe.

The matter:

• The police were informed about a Renault Duster car, full of hawala money.
• They acted on the information, chasing the suspicious car and ended up catching it at the National Highway (NH) – 91 of Etah.
• Subsequently, the car was checked and piles on Indian currency notes were recovered from it.
• Three persons namely Anil Kumar, Rakesh Pandit and Mirza Murad were taken into police custody.
• The money was recovered from three boxes fixed under the mat of the car, which showed that the car was mainly used for transferring money.

What is ‘hawala’:

Hawala refers to alternative and illegal remittance channels existing outside of traditional banking systems. It is a method of transferring money without any actual movement. Transactions between Hawala brokers are done without promissory notes because the system is heavily based on trust.