NEW DELHI: Ahead of the “surgical strike” on black money by scrapping high-value currency notes, various agencies of the government kept tabs on nearly 200 major hawala traders across the country. Bulk of the hawala traders under surveillance by the agencies included those from Kolkata, Mumbai and the national capital.
Some traders in B-grade cities such as Indore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, besides those in south Indian states, were also under the agencies’ scanner to check any possible high-value transactions through cash stashed by them before demonetisation came into effect from the midnight of November 8.
The recent crackdown on hawala traders and jewellers comes as a follow-up to the surveillance maintained by agencies such as the CBI, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate.
Sources said as many as 40 hawala dealers each from Delhi and Mumbai, and 30 in Kolkata were under watch by these agencies.
Five hawala dealers from Madhya Pradesh—three from Indore and one each from Bhopal and Vidisha—were also under observation. Major money launderers in Pune, Ghaziabad and Noida were also being watched.
The agencies kept an eye on 10 to 15 hawala racketeers each from Bengaluru, Chennai, Mangaluru, Vishakhapatnam and Vijaywada.
Since the operation is continuing, the sources did not reveal the names of the black money racketeers, but added that the idea was to check any high-volume transaction by the hawala dealers during the window period of three-and-a-half hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of `500 and `1,000 notes.