THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four suspected members of a hawala racket who escaped after allegedly assaulting a police officer following a motorcycle chase at Parassala have been arrested. The shadow wing of the Thiruvananthapuram rural police arrested Aseem, 40, Peerumohammed, 24, Feroz Khan, 30, and Ajeeb, 38, on Tuesday.
All are natives of Idichakkaplamoodu near Parassala. Three of them were taken into custody from a hide-out at Vallakkadavu while the other was picked up from Parassala. According to the police, they are yet to ascertain whether they are members of any hawala racket. However, the accused revealed during interrogation that they were carrying a sum of around C10 lakh to be given to commissioning agents of various fish markets in the southern regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The incident pertaining to the case took place last Saturday when the accused attacked the Sub Inspector attached to the Puthukadai Police Station at Inchivila near Parassala. The officer, Robert Jain, crossed the border in plainclothes while chasing the suspects who did not stop their motorcycles while being intercepted near Marthandam. When he chased down the suspects, the latter manhandled the officer and sped away with the money.
“As per the version of the accused, they were carrying the money for giving it to the agents,” said Parassala SI S B Praveen. “However, a probe is on to check the truth. Though the assaulted officer said the arrested were active members of a big hawala racket, particularly as they were transporting around C2 crore, we can’t take this into account as he did not see the cash in the bag. So, a probe is on and we will approach the magistrate, if needed, to take the accused into custody again to collect more details.”
The accused have been booked under Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 294 (b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) 506 (1) (punishment for criminal intimidation), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC. They have been produced before the magistrate who remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.