Residents and passers-by at Jaraganahalli caught a man armed with a machete on Tuesday and in doing so, helped Puttenahalli police bust an inter-State money laundering racket in the city on Tuesday.
The police arrested Mohammed Sahil, who was wielding the machete, and later tracked down his associates Faisal, Fazal, and Abdul Manas from Kerala. They recovered over ₹20 lakh of unaccounted cash and hundreds of deposit slips from various banks from their houses. Police claim they are part of a huge money laundering racket involving crores of rupees.
High drama near ATM
A Bengaluru-based businessman, Venkatesh T.S., saw a man, later identified as Sahil, acting suspiciously while trying to deposit cash into an ATM at a kiosk at Jaraganahalli on Tuesday. The businessman watched the man closely and estimated that he was carrying around ₹1 lakh that he was trying to deposit. He spotted a machete in the man’s backpack, and alerted people in the area.
A small group of people attempted to corner Sahil who pulled out a machete and tried to attack them. By then others, who had gathered at the spot, joined in and were able to pin him down.
“Inquiries revealed that Sahil and his associates were involved in a racket where they would deposit money into accounts for a commission of ₹60,000 per month. During a search of their residences, we recovered ₹20,15,700 in cash, along with a cash counting machine,” said a senior police officer. The police also recovered hundreds of deposit slips with details of multiple accounts in 25 banks over the last three months.
On Thursday, the police arrested Abdul Manas, the fourth accomplice of the three arrested accused.
The four accused revealed that they were operating on the directions of another man who is currently absconding.
“They converted unaccounted cash into white money by depositing it into various bank accounts as part of a money laundering exercise,” Harish Pandey, DCP (South) said. “A total of ₹31.5 crores seems to have been deposited in the 185 out of 2,656 accounts for which we have received statements from the banks already,” he added.
Further investigation is in progress and the police have the cooperation of other agencies who specialise in money laundering.
