The police on Sunday stumbled upon a hawala racket in Kalasipalya, following a complaint filed by a man from Kerala that a gang of five robbed him of Rs. 1.35 crore. This comes a day after the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials searched a financial firm in Nagarthpet over hawala transactions.
The police said that Lathif (29), claiming to be a gold trader from Palakkad, approached the Kalasipalya police stating that five men had waylaid him on Kalasipalya Main Road while returning to the lodge, after collecting Rs. 85 lakh from a businessman in Chickpet. He said in the complaint that he was carrying the cash in a carton.
He added that the gang, posing as IT sleuths, took away the cash and later accompanied him to the lodge and took away the remaining Rs. 50 lakh.
The police swung into action and obtained the CCTV footage from the lodge.
“When we looked at the footage, we saw Lathif walking into the room with two others. Unlike Lathif’s statements, the two men seemed to be his acquaintance. The three were sitting and talking like good friends,” a senior police officer said.
The police began to suspect Lathif after he changed his statement when questioned about his background and the source of the money. During interrogation, Lathif confessed that he was part of a hawala racket based in Kerala and was working for one Anil Kumar in Palakkad. He confessed that he had collected money from various people and was packing it in boxes to send it to Kerala. This money was supposed to be handed over to Anil, the police said. “Though we have registered a case of robbery, we are also probing the hawala angle,” a senior police officer said.
