National currency racket unearthed

Suspicion of money being used for anti-national activities

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Intelligence Agencies and Police jointly busted a racket of national-level crores of rupees in illegal currency transactions through virtual investment. The accused used to open bank accounts in the name of college students and youths and transact through them from various states.

On the basis of a tip-off from intelligence agencies, the city police arrested two youths from the city along with a man from Gujarat, on Wednesday.

A currency racket involving crores of rupees in illegal transactions by investing in virtual currency (virtual currency) which is banned in India and converting it back into the currency of various countries was being done.

The accused have been identified as Utsavkumar Chandubhai Bhesania (23, Surat, Gujarat), Rishikesh Shivnath Bhagwat (23, Sinhagad Colony, N-6) and Anurag Bhausaheb Ghodke (21, Mhasobanagar, Jadhavwadi).

This racket has been running in the city for the past several months. Police Commissioner Pravin Pawar ordered an action on Wednesday after getting information about this. It was reported that Utsavkumar came to stay at a hotel in Nirala Bazar. Police Inspectors Sambhaji Pawar, Geeta Bagwade and Ashok Bhandare, Assistant Inspector Rajendra Bansode, Mosin Syed and Qadir Deshmukh conducted a raid. During the raid, all three were found red-handed while doing bank transactions through mobile phones.

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Modus operandy

Transactions of lakhs of rupees are done in a day and then the account is closed

- Utsavkumar has been in touch with Rishikesh and Anurag for the past six months.

- Anurag and Rishikesh used to open bank accounts with documents of family, youth, and college students in the city. But Utsavkumar was giving the mobile number to link the bank accounts.

- After opening the account, Utsavkumar was also carrying the card, passbook, and chequebook. Crores of rupees are deposited in those accounts.

- Cash is withdrawn from it and re-deposited in other accounts through the CDM machine. Then, they would invest in crypto, USDT and convert it back to Indian currency.

- Interestingly, the account is closed after a certain number of transactions.

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Use of black market, dark net

The accused were using ‘Darknet i.e. DuckDuckGo search engine and Trust Wallet which is banned in the country for all transactions, transfers, and account opening processes. Therefore, the investigating agencies are very suspicious about their motives.

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7 K to 10 K for account user

Utsavkumar and his accomplices lure youths with money for the racket across the country. Rishikesh and Anurag opened a bank account in the name of many youths in the city and gave the accounts to the prime accused to operate them.

For this, an account holder is paid Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000. Youths from reputed colleges in the city were caught in this racket. Rishikesh is a college dropout while Anurag is a science student.

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Enquiry done earlier also

The youths of the city involved in this type of racket were earlier interrogated by central investigation Agencies which suspect that the money is being used for anti-national activities and illegal businesses. The court remanded them in police custody until September 15.