3.75 crore hawala money seized, four arrested

Hyderabad: The West Zone Task Force on Tuesday intercepted a car at Road No. 12, Banjara Hills and seized hawala money worth Rs 3.75 crore from the possession of four persons.

The persons were identified as, Eshwar Dileep Solanki (29), Harish Ram Bhai Patel (35), Ajith Singh (34) and Rathod Kanak Singh Natuba (42), all residents of Banjara Hills and natives of Gujarat. According to task force police, they received a tip-off from a credible source that the said persons were transporting the hawala money to Gujarat. Upon receiving the information, teams rushed to the spot and apprehended the accused persons while seizing the entire cash. Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of police, Hyderabad, said that, when our teams questioned the arrested persons, it was revealed that all these persons are working in P Vijay & Company situated in Mumbai and they also have a branch in Hyderabad. The owner of the company is Kamlesh Shah, a native of Ahmedabad.

He said, "Two persons Dinesh and Giri are in-charge of the company in Hyderabad. The accused Ajith, Rathod and a woman Thakur Soalben are working in the office of Dinesh and Giri. On September 14 two accused persons Eshwar Dileepji and Harish Ram came to Hyderabad in Mahindra Scorpio to collect the cash from Dinesh and Giri."

"After collecting the cash from them, the duo who arrived from Gujarat started their journey back and they were being accompanied by Ajith and Rathod in another car. Meanwhile, we received credible information about the deal and we intercepted the cars and arrested the men while seizing the entire hawala amount," added the Commissioner.

"The seized money will be handed over to the Income Tax department for further course of action and the arrested persons will also be handed over to the IT department for further questioning.

The arrests were made under the supervision of DCP of Task Force, P Radhakishan Rao and his team," stated the officer.