Police busted hawala racket of Rs 70 lakh

Hyderabad: Acting on a tip-off, the Rachakonda police busted a Hawala money transfer racket operating from Raipur, Chattisgarh and apprehended one suspect apart from seizing Rs 70 lakh from him. The sleuths of Special Operations Team (SOT), LB Nagar zone also seized two mobile phones and a jacket from the suspect. According to the police, Chandrakanth Varma, a native of Maharashtra who migrated to Hyderabad, was working in a jewellery store at Jubilee Hills Road No 36. As a marketing agent, his job entailed procuring raw material and tools from various parts of the city for the shop workers. A resident of Begum Bazaar, he also used to collect amounts from various persons on the instructions of the shop owner, K Chandraprakash.

On March 7, the police said, Varma went to Raipur in Chattisgarh and brought an amount of Rs 33 lakh from a person named Sunil Soni and handed over to Chandraprakash. Again on March 14, he reached Raipur and after collecting Rs 70 lakh from Sunil Soni, he concealed the amount in a specially designed jacket and boarded a bus to return to Hyderabad. It was while travelling in an auto that Varma landed in the SOT net which was checking vehicles at RK Puram X Road under Neredmet police limits in connection with the ensuing Parliament polls.

Varma, when checked, was found to in possession of Rs 70 lakh unaccounted money concealed in his specially designed jacket, said Rachakonda Commissioner of Police, Mahesh M Bhagwat. According to the Commissioner, the suspect, Sunil Soni used to send Hawala amount through the agent Chandrakanth Varma. The suspect along with the seized property was handed over to SHO, Neredmet police for taking further action. The matter was also being referred to the Income Tax department for further action.