Demonetization: Son of financer Kishore Bhajiawala arrested by ED

The ED said on Friday it has arrested the son of city-based financer Kishore Bhajiawala on money laundering charges and for allegedly using 1,000 fake IDs to illegally convert Rs 1 crore in old notes into new post demonetization.

The agency said it has placed "Jignesh Kishorebhai Bhajiawala (41) under arrest as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at about 11:45 PM last night" at is sub-zonal office here. He will produced in court on Friday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a criminal FIR against Kishore Bhajiawala and some of his family members based on a CBI FIR against him, which was registered after the Income Tax department first conducted searches and seized gold and cash from his premises as part of their operation in December last year to check blackmoney post the notes ban.

The case had gained prominence after investigating agencies detected the proverbial rags-to-riches ascent of the 'chaiwala'-turned-financier based in the diamond city of Gujarat. "The Bhajiawala family has converted a huge amount of their unaccounted money, post demonetization, into new high denomination currency and other valuables through collusion with bank officials and private persons by impersonating, forgery and by using forged documents.

"An amount of over Rs 1.02 crore in new currency was seized by the I-T department from his premises during searches at his home, shop and bank lockers held by them. It was also found that the accused had hired several bank lockers in benami names to stash their unaccounted assets," the ED alleged.