Gujarat is the epicentre for hawala money: NIA

The National Investigation Agency which seized hawala money to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore in Mumbai with the assistance of the income tax department on Tuesday, says that the racket is multi-pronged, and could be connected to terror group. Vicky Nanjappa reports.

Although prima facie it appears that the money was being transported to Gujarat to businessmen, the NIA is trying to find the operatives who made such a large transaction possible.

The investigating agency has been on the trail since 2011, when it began probing such transactions which were made between Pakistan and Kashmir. Although a large part of this money which was seized on Tuesday appears to have the involvement of businessmen in Gujarat, the NIA believes that those who make such transactions possible have links with terror groups.

The IT department is still ascertaining the exact amount while the NIA has already begun interrogation of the persons who were arrested with the money.

The NIA says that it is piecing together the evidence it has collected from its past investigations on such transactions.

“Prima facie it appears that these men in our custody were facilitating the transaction and ensuring that the money reached Gujarat safely. However, they picked up the money from an agent in Maharashtra who is actively involved with the Delhi hub,” an NIA official told rediff.com.

The same hubs were involved in facilitating hawala transfers from the Gulf which were later picked up by operatives of the Indian Mujahideen who used the funds to carry out various blasts.

The Gujarat link: Gujarat has been notorious for hawala transactions. In the past too, there have been instances where hawala money was seized while being transported for businessmen in Gujarat.

The NIA is studying the case prepared by the Agra police in which they managed to bust a Gujarat-based hawala racket in 2011. The investigations revealed that the centre was Ahmedabad and this was most of the time the pick up point for such money.

NIA officials say that most of the operators are based in Agra and work as spice traders. These establishments act as a front where the money is collected and then moved to other states for businessmen. During the Agra investigation, it was found that the racket was being run for a company called Mukesh Bhai-Narain Dass based in Ahmedabad.

The modus operandi suggested that money would come in to Agra and there shall not be a transaction of more than Rs 20 lakh per day. These persons acting as middlemen were given salaries of Rs 6,000 per month along with a commission. The NIA says that this racket which has its centre in Ahmedabad was directly connected to markets in Agra, Delhi, Bhopal, Goa and Maharashtra. Over the past few years, they had also opened up branches in Bengaluru, Mathura, Goa and Bhopal.

The NIA is also looking into the recent Mangalore hawala case which also had its roots in Ahmedabad. The investigation revealed that one Suresh acted as a point man for a Ashish Patel, a businessman. Patel owned a company in Ahmedabad and was allegedly involved in hawala transactions across the country. His job was to set up point men in different places and then ensure that money came into Gujarat where it was distributed among businessmen on a commission basis.