Poll hawala cash via Delhi, Jalandhar, UP’s Azamgarh
Amid specific reports that a whopping amount of cash was flowing through the hawala network into the Assembly elections, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the intelligence and enforcement agencies have zeroed down on Delhi, Jalandhar and Azamgarh as the main centres through which the bulk of transactions were being carried out.
Sources said the entire operation was being conducted by a network of international hawala operators in an extremely secretive manner. The agencies suspect some new big players have emerged who are still not on their radar as surveillance on the “usual suspects” in Delhi, who normally operate from the Walled City, has not yielded results.
With the Election Commission and enforcement agencies estimating that over `10,000 crores of black money will be pumped into UP polls alone, it is suspected a majority of this money will come via hawala channels. The agencies are keeping a close watch on suspects in Azamgarh in UP, who are said to have close links with hawala dealers in the Gulf. It is suspected that the money entering Azamgarh is being filtered through Dubai, Mauritius and Cyprus. Most of this is said to be unaccounted wealth stashed overseas, which is now finding its way into the elections.
Jalandhar in Punjab, in the middle of the cash-rich Doaba region, is being closely watched by intelligence agencies. A lot of people from this region work abroad; and it is suspected that many of them are now sending money to finance the elections.
“These rich NRIs have relatives and friends who are contesting elections, so they are sending money to help,” a top enforcement official said.
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