Vizag: Hawala racket operating from Kolkata busted; 9 booked

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam police in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday claimed to have unearthed a major hawala racket operating from Kolkata that illegally funnelled out money to the tune of Rs 569 crore overseas.

According to Vizag Deputy Commissioner of Police, Navin Gulati, a FIR has been filed here against nine persons in the case, but no arrests have been made so far.

"We have discovered that the hawala racket received a sum of Rs 680 crore from abroad of which Rs 569 crore was sent outside the country using fake documents. All this is black money. We have also discovered that 30 fake companies were created and several fake bank accounts opened in many cities for these transactions," Gulati told reporters here today.

A father-son duo, Vaddi Srinivasa Rao and Vaddi Mahesh, have been named as prime accused in the case. The duo, hailing from Srikakulam had settled in Kolkata in the mid-1980s, the DCP said.

"Two employees of the fake companies, two chartered accountants of Kolkata, and three other investors have also been named as accused in the case.

The three investors appeared to be the kingpin in the racket. We have despatched search teams to different places to nab the accused," Gulati said.

"Prima facie, there is some problem. The Income Tax Department also conducted some raids and their first impression is that a lot of bogus transactions have happened in this case. Fake foreign invoices were submitted to the banks and money has gone out of the country fraudulently without paying tax," he added.

"We have registered an FIR and the IT department is co-operating with us. A detailed investigation into the case is needed and some clear picture may emerge on Monday or Tuesday," the DCP said.