ED, I-T probe Delhi hawala ring; one arrested

The Enforcement Directorate and the Income-tax department have launched an investigation into a syndicate that sent crores of funds abroad through crypto-currency and other illegal means, following the arrest of a Delhi-based alleged hawala dealer, official sources said Thursday.

Jaiprakash Singhal was taken into custody by the ED under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) last month, following inputs shared by the I-T department, they said.

The tax department had conducted searches into this alleged hawala ring and against Singhal on April 28 in Delhi.

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At least half-a-dozen premises in Delhi-NCR of some hawala dealers, their associates and those who used their services to send crores of rupees abroad under the garb of "media advertisements" through hawala and cryptocurrency-linked channels were searched by the I-T department.

Sources said Singhal has some cases against him filed by the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and was also on the radar of the tax department.

The tax department shared information about the alleged hawala activities of Singhal with the ED following which it took cognisance of the two complaints against him (EOW and I-T department) and booked a case under the PMLA.

The agency, as well as the tax department, are now probing the entire gamut of operations of this alleged hawala transactions syndicate which has links to some prominent business groups.

Hawala denotes illegal and fraudulent KYC-based monetary transactions through both banking and non-banking channels.