99.5% of Rs 163-crore benami transactions in Gujarat racket may have stemmed from online gaming: Police

The Porbandar Police now suspect that proceeds of cybercrimes, reported on the national database, are only the top of the proverbial iceberg. Of the Rs 163-crore racket being run out of Jadeja home — the sprawling Suraj Palace, 99.5% may have been generated out of real money online games, police believe.

Hiralba is known to be the wife of former MLA, late Bhura Munja Jadeja, who died in 2016. Bhura was the younger brother of Sarman Munja, the husband of Santokben.

The August 14 chargesheet came exactly seven days before the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, was passed. The law bans Real Money Games (RMGs) from taking deposits from players in India.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Porbandar SP Bhagirathsinh U Jadeja said, “After analysis of the data and evidence, we primarily believe that most of the money has come from online gaming. While we have spoken to several complainants who have been victims of cybercrime and have reported the same to the national portal, most of the transactions have no complainants. However, we have found the pattern of transaction amounts in round figures that need to be deposited in these online games before participants are allowed to play them.”

SP Jadeja said the Porbandar police had informed Junagadh police and Jamnagar police about the development. While Junagadh police filed an FIR, Jamnagar police was yet to do so.

‘Only 0.5% are proceeds of cybercrime’

Inspector SR Chaudhary told The Indian Express, “Out of Rs 163 crore worth of transactions, only Rs 80-85 lakh were proceeds of cybercrime.” This is hardly 0.5% of the total amount.

The police are yet to find the source of these funds, but police officials said that they could be proceeds from illegal funds from online gaming platforms. To verify this, a government-appointed Chartered Accountant (CA) has been checking the accounts since June. The final report is yet to be submitted, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Surjeet Mahedu.

The case

On May 15, Hiralba was booked under IPC sections pertaining to cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery, among other charges. She was also booked under section 66(d) of the Information Technology Act.

While the police had earlier arrested four persons — Hiralba, Hitesh Bhima Odedara, Ajay Mansukh Chauhan, and Sachin Kanakrai Mehta — six others, including Parth Mahendra Songela, Mohan Ranchhod Vaza, Raju Balu Parmar and Naitik Paresh Mavani (in India) and two men identified only as ‘Roger’ and ‘Aashu’ in Dubai, UAE, have been declared absconders. The Porbandar Police have written to CID Crime regarding the return of these fugitives. According to procedure, the CID Crime can ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ask the INTERPOL to issue notices against them.

Mule savings bank accounts

The FIR had been filed after preliminary investigation into transactions into and from suspected mule savings bank accounts in the name of “poor people”. These bank accounts had come under the scanner after they were named as recipients of proceeds of cybercrime in 130 complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP).

These mule savings bank accounts had been opened in the names of people who worked as labourers and household workers. Proceeds of cybercrime worth Rs 45-50 lakh were received in these accounts, said Inspector SR Chaudhary, the Investigation Officer (IO) of this case.

Benami transactions worth Rs 163-crore in 10 months

The Porbandar Police claimed to have uncovered Rs 163 crore worth of transactions from 26 current bank accounts that had been opened in various banks in the name of shell MSME companies. The accused had allegedly opened 26 current bank accounts in the names of four people. Four shell companies were opened in the name of these people but they were actually controlled by Hiralba, said police. Of these four persons, two are accused and two are witnesses. They had agreed to do the job for a salary of Rs 25,000 per month. All they had to do was sit at these shops to make them look like real businesses, said the police.

The entire transaction history for Rs 163 crore was completed in less than a year — between June 2024 and March 2025.

Where is the money?

The highest amount recovered so far is Rs 9 lakh from one account while the other accounts have a balance of less than Rs 1 lakh each.

“Most of the money has either been transferred to other accounts in India or has gone to Dubai,” police said. Inspector Chaudhary said that the accused persons had, during questioning, told the police that while the entire amount was large, each individual transaction was not so with the accused only sending Rs 100, Rs 200, and Rs 500.

Further legal action

The Porbandar Police have now reported possible money laundering to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), tax evasion to the Gujarat Income Tax, and goods and services tax evasion to the GST Department. Further, while another case has been filed against Hiralba by the Cybercrime Police in Junagadh, the Jamnagar Police is also said to be investigating possible benami bank accounts linked to this case in their district.

DySP Surjeet Mahedu, who is supervising the investigation, said that several supplementary chargesheets will likely be filed in this case in the coming months.

Between April 30 and July 21, Hiralba Jadeja has been booked in a total of four cases. Of these, three are in Porbandar, which includes the current cybercrime case, and two extortion cases. The fourth case, in Junagadh, is also for cybercrime.