Hawala racket busted in Visakhapatnam, 50 lakh rupees recovered

The Visakhapatnam Task Force, on Saturday night, busted a hawala racket and arrested one person from the city’s Dwaraka Bus station. The police received a tip-off from onlookers when they found a suspicious man at the bus stop with a package. Preliminary investigations by the Task Force revealed that the accused, identified as Grandhi Narasimha Rao, is a native of Narsapuram. He had, in possession, with him liquid cash worth Rs 50.38 lakh. The accused failed to produce any receipts or documents validating the large sum of money in his possession, further raising suspicions that the amount was being siphoned in a racket.

The Task Force team, led by ACP Trinadh, identified that the person in question was employed as a clerk in a jewellery shop at Narasapuram, West Godavari district. Narsimha Rao stated that he had no idea about what the money was for. Further, he stated that his employer sent him to Vizag from Narsapuram. Initial investigations revealed that the accused in hawala racket travelled to Visakhapatnam for a secret money transfer. Narsimha Rao was caught on his way back to his hometown at Vizag’s RTC complex after he collected the money.

When the accused failed to produce receipts, the police looked through his phone for possible clues and call records. They then found a secret code in the accused’s phone records that was to be used in the racket.

The Visakhapatnam police are currently investigating the business links between the jewellery store owner in Narsapuram and his contacts in Visakhapatnam. The large sum of money was recovered by the police and handed over to Two Town police for further investigations. A case under Sections 41 and 102 of IPC was registered against the accused, who is currently in police custody.