Hawala scam: Gujarat High Court issues notice to ED, state & DGP on SIT probe demand

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the state government, the Director General of Police and the Director of Enforcement Directorate on a PIL that sought to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe hawala scam worth Rs 5,395 crore.

A division bench of the Gujarat High Court, comprising acting Chief Justice V M Sahai and Justice R P Dholaria, issued notices and sought response from the authorities in connection with the PIL filed by city-based Dharmesh Patel in the hawala scam.

According to the PIL, the hawala scam, allegedly involving diamond traders Afroz Fatta as accused and Madanlal Jain as co-accused, has been probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the crime branch of Surat city.

While ED probed the offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Surat crime branch has been investigating it under Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The petitioner raised doubts on the probe conducted by the crime branch saying, "they are not equipped to deal with the racketeers (accused in the case) who have used satellite phones and other communication equipments with technological advancements."

The crime branch personnel did not even know how to break the 'codes' used by the hawala accused and hence the probe was not properly conducted, the petition said.

The petitioner alleged that the probe was moving at a snail's pace as no arrest was made in more than a year.

The petitioner demanded formation of a SIT to probe the issue or to hand it over to an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)-like agency. The high court is likely to hear the petition on August 17.

The multi crore hawala racket was busted by ED during its search operations in Surat-based offices of some diamond traders, including Fatta and Jain, in March 2014.

It was alleged that instead of importing diamonds, the duo made bogus import bills, claiming that they have purchased the diamonds from foreign traders.

Using these bills, it was alleged that the duo used to transfer money through their bank accounts. Thus, money went outside without a single diamond imported in India.

The crime branch was also probing offences like cheating and forgery in hawala transactions.