COIMBATORE: Coimbatore District police formally referred the Hawala money seizure case to the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department for further investigation.
According to the police officials, the case has been referred as it is an alleged hawala transaction. Meanwhile, the seized properties - Rs 90 lakh cash, car and mobile phones - were handed over to Madukkarai Judicial Magistrate court.
A senior police official said according to the legal opinion, they could not arrest them. “Meanwhile, three specials team formed by the district police are investigating the robbery case. Two teams are camping in Kerala and one is investigating in the district based on the CCTV footage and mobile tower dumps. If the Salam and his driver Samsutheen have any role in the robbery, they would be arrested by the district police,” he said.
The robbery happened near Navakkarai on Salem - Kochi national highway on Friday morning when car owner A Abdul Salam (50) a realtor, and his driver A Samsutheen (42), both from Pookkottur of Malapuram district were heading towards Kerala from Bangalore. They said KG Chavadi police that a gang waylaid them and took away the car, two mobile phones and Rs 27.5 lakh cash belonged to Mohammad Ali of Malapuram who was into gold business. Based on their complaint police registered a case and formed three special teams to trace the robbery gang.