Hawala crackdown: Probe into Dawood link yields 1,200 bank accounts, Middle East numbers

This has led investigators to believe there could be an extremely organised, countrywide operation that remained undetected for years.
Investigating officers said the interrogation of S Nagarajan, detained by the Kolkata Police Special Task Force, will be key in examining the links with the underworld, and the role played by the absconding Santiago Martin.

[related-post]

“Martin was at the forefront of lottery operations in Karnataka. From there, he built his empire in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It’s still too early to be sure, but it is possible that he was using Bengal as a gateway to operations in the Northeast,” an officer said.

Nagarajan’s interrogation has indicated the scam wasn’t limited to southern states.

“The investigation has revealed that Nagarajan worked closely with an individual, identified as Senthil Kumar Mondal, and together they ran operations in eastern and Northeastern states. Using Siliguri as a link, they worked with agents in Sikkim,” said the officer. Sources said that though the police were able to locate two properties belonging to Mondal, he couldn’t be arrested.

The investigation has also led the police to a number of properties being used as “offices” for the money laundering scheme, located in posh localities of Kolkata such as Behala, New Alipore and Jessore Road.

“These offices were being used for the past three years, if not more. There has not been such a case of a hawala scheme moving this much money in the city. After money laundering schemes in southern states were forced to relocate following increased scrutiny by law enforcement agencies, the kingpins of the scam appear to have moved here,” said a source.

Investigating agencies believe most of the money was routed through the Middle East using the hawala route. “We have seized certain diaries containing numbers of phones in the Middle East. We are tracing these numbers and this will allow us to identify the individuals who facilitated the hawala transfers,” said the officer.

Investigators have discovered that around 1,200 bank accounts were being used to move money.

“We don’t think every person with a bank account was directly involved in the scam. It seems that people were forced or paid to open bank accounts in their own name and then the money from the lottery scheme was sent to these accounts. Once the scam was completed, the money was withdrawn and moved via the hawala route. But we are looking at each and every account. They are registered across the country, with about 150 of them in the state,” said a CBDT official.