Interstate Hawala gang busted, 12 held in MP

Bhopal, May 18 (UNI) Police here busted an interstate Hawala gang with the arrest of a dozen of its members who were carrying on the illegal activities under the garb of a courier company.

Superintendent of Police Jaideep Prasad said the crime branch of police had raided two places in the state capital last night. It seized Rs 27 lakh cash from one place and Rs 2.5 lakh cash, money counting machine, more than a dozen cellular phones, two telephones, accounts-related documents and stapler from the other.

''Vijay Raichandani and his eight accomplices were held from the city's old quarters while Kamlesh Gyanchandani and two other people were arrested from local M P Nagar,'' he said.

The accused were running Hawala on the pretext of a courier company and interrogations revealed that they carried out hawala transactions at Maharashtra's Pune, Guajrat's Ahmedabad and other cities of the country.

The accused also admitted that they had been carrying out hawala since past one year and did the transaction of about Rs 50 lakh in a week.

On whether the gang had any connection with Tuesday's serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, Mr Prasad said its possibility could not be denied and investigations would clear the mist.

UNI PKJ-KV AKJ HT1502