Assam: SI, journalist arrested on charges of laundering money seized from hawala agents

The money swindled was a portion of cash recovered from the possession of residents of Rajasthan in Guwahati

The Assam Police made a big breakthrough in its crackdown on corruption, after a sub-inspector and a journalist were arrested from Guwahati today. The accused have been identified as Mubarak Ali, a sub-inspector at the Bharalu police station and journalist Taufiquddin Ahmed.

As per top sources, both Mubarak and Taufiquddin have been accused of siphoning money seized during anti-hawala operations in Guwahati. During probe it was found that the duo had swindled at least Rs 30 lakh from the total amount which was seized.

It has been learnt that during a special operation on November 21, the police had arrested 2 persons hailing from Rajasthan and seized Rs 1.69 crore from their possession.

But police could soon learn that more cash was recovered initially (more than Rs 2 crore), but when valuation was carried out by Income Tax personnel, it was found to be Rs 1.69 crore.

Hence, investigators became sure that a criminal conspiracy was hatched and a portion of the recovered money was laundered.

Guwahati Commissioner of Police, Diganta Barah gave a brief account of what actually had happened and how the police could crack the case.

Sharing details, Diganta Barah informed, “On the evening of November 21, a raid was carried out at a rented house in Guwahati’s Athgaon area. A team from the Bharalumukh police station had gone for the raid. Cash meant for hawala transaction was recovered there. After that the OC himself rushed to the spot and informed our senior officers including me. After that we got in touch with the Income Tax department and requested them to send their teams. Following this the I-T team after due procedures and frisking of the spot, valued the seized amount at Rs 1.69 crore. However, we received information that there were more cash, we suspected that either police personnel or officials of other agencies engaged in the operation might have swindled a portion of the cash.

This morning we detained a civilian from Hajo, we recovered Rs 7.50 lakh from his residence. On the basis of his confession during interrogation we have detained few more persons.

Among them is Mubarak Ali, a sub-inspector at the Bharalu PS and he was the first to enter the house during the raid, another one is journalist- who identifies himself to be a scribe associated with a leading satellite news media outlet, his name is Taufiquddin, a resident of Jalukbari.

One more person has been taken into custody. We have recovered Rs 37.80 lakh from them. The probe is underway.

When the Officer-in-Charge of the Bharalu PS reached the spot, prior to that these 4 persons had laundered a portion of the money. We will not spare anyone who is involved in this. The journalist was actively involved in this and we have recovered Rs 4 lakh from his possession.”

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