HYDERABAD: Days after busting a hawala gang, the Hyderabad police busted another such gang and arrested five persons. An amount of `59 lakh, which was found in their possession, was seized. Days after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force in the state following the announcement of the election schedule, the city police have intensified checks on illegal money transacting gangs.
Those arrested are Pupalla Mahesh (28) of Manikonda, Guman Singh Rajpurohit (63) of Koti, Nepal Singh (22), Damuluri Srinivasa Rao (28) of Manikonda, Sirishilla Avinash (35), a computer operator with Boundaries Tours and Travels in Secunderabad. DCP (Task Force) P Radhakishan Rao said that Vallabhaneni Anil Kumar, vice-president of Telugu Yuvatha-Telangana state and secretary of Junior Artistes Union planned to transport the illegal amount to Jagityal district by hawala.
“Anil Kumar instructed his driver Mahesh to deliver `59 lakh in cash to hawala agent Naresh of Pooja Fashions at Koti and Sirishilla Avinash set up a hawala money transfer business all over Telangana and Andhra,” the DCP said. When Mahesh and the other accused went to Pooja Fashions to hand over the money to Naresh’s father Guman Singh and Avinash, the Task Force sleuths, acting on a tip-off, raided the place and detained the accused. They also seized huge amounts of illegal cash possessed by the accused.
The arrested persons and the seized cash were handed over to income tax department officials for taking further action. Earlier, the city police had arrested two persons for possessing a huge amount of unaccounted money and transporting it by hawala means. An amount of `99 lakh cash was seized in that raid.