Hawala transaction racket busted, 1 held

Bihar police today claimed to have busted a hawala transaction racket and arrested one person with a haul of debit cards and PAN cards among other documents, a police officer said.
Acting on tip off by central intelligence agencies about some hawala racketeers making calls to unsuspecting people promising them to pay lottery prizes after deposit of cash in certain bank accounts, a police team detected transfer of huge cash in an SBI bank account recently.
The account holder Manish Kumar was arrested and taken for interrogation from his house in Mohan Nagar locality under Punaichak police station area, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said.

During sustained interrogation, Kumar broke down and told the cops that he used to make calls to people to tell them that they had won lottery prizes under which they will get SUVs after depositing certain amount in his bank account.
The accused told the interrogators that he used to withdraw the cash immediately after being deposited by the people, the SSP said, adding that Kumar has also given details about some agents who were working for him.
During search at the accused man's residence, the police seized his passbook of the SBI bank account, reliance phone, two pan cards, two voter identity cards and the debit cards of the central bank and SBI, Maharaj said.

Raids were on to nab other members of the hawala transaction racket being run by Kumar, he said.
The SSP has also appealed to people against falling to offers by hawala racketeers.