Cash worth more than Rs 2.3 crore in total was seized from a G-plus-3 building in New Town, on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata, during a nearly 12-hour overnight raid by Bidhannagar Police that led to the arrest of seven people, including a woman, police said. Investigators said the case is suspected to be linked to an interstate hawala network and a cyber fraud syndicate.

Source: GPlus India News (Kolkata News)

Acting on a tip-off, the operation — carried out jointly by the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime police station, the detective department and Techno City police — began on Monday evening at the AA Block address near Tank No. 20, close to Karigari Bhavan, and continued till Tuesday morning. Officers cordoned off the building and searched room by room, allegedly finding sack after sack stuffed with bundles of cash. Six currency-counting machines and bank officials were brought in to verify the money through the night.

Police said the seizure included Rs 2,27,85,000 in cash, along with around 50 grams of gold, four cars and other valuables. All seven arrested persons are residents of Punjab and Gujarat. According to investigators, the accused claimed they had rented the premises as a guest house but failed to produce any rent agreement during questioning. The ownership of the four seized cars is also being verified.

Hawala and cyber-fraud angles under probe

The source of the money remains under investigation. Police are probing whether the premises was being used as the operational base of a Jamtara-style cyber fraud racket or a fake call centre, or as a transit point for routing illegal funds through hawala channels. Investigators suspect the cash may have been brought into West Bengal from other states for laundering, and are examining whether the operation has links to a larger interstate or international syndicate. These are allegations under investigation and have not been established in court.

Source: Bhaskar English

Police said further arrests are likely as they trace the money trail and analyse the digital and financial evidence recovered during the raid.