Rs 1,500cr hawala case: Hyd, Vizag firms under ED radar

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate investigation into the Rs 1,500-crore hawala case has revealed that several companies in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were involved in laundering of money with the help of shell companies of hawala operator and money launderer Bhimendra Kumar Goyal.
An ED official said Goyal had floated around 200 shell firms and done transactions with companies in Telangana and AP.“We have issued summons to these companies and are recording their statements,” he said. Investigations have also found that Anirudh Sharma, who had a long association with Goyal, had ended life after he was questioned by the investigating agencies in 2019 in connection with CID and ED cases.
ED officials said Goyal’s son Ayush Goyal was also facing money laundering charges. “The accused had initially smuggled electronic goods into India. Later, Goyal started exporting customised software. Actually, he was routing hawala money in and out in the guise of software exports and imports,” said a senior ED official.
Officials said Goyal also has connections with Nepal as his brother operates from there. “From Singapore, he came to Nepal after an Interpol red-corner notice was issued against him. He didn’t choose to fly as he will be caught. From Nepal, he entered India through the land route and surrendered before AP police,” he said.
However, with AP police failing to file the chargesheet in the stipulated period, he was out on a bail. “Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence tracked and arrested him. He was brought to Visakhapatnam under the prisoner transit warrant and produced in the court under PMLA,” said an official.
Goyal’s accomplice Vaddi Mahesh set up the shell companies in Viskhapatnam and Kolkata and transferred the money to China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The transactions had initially come under scanner of the income tax department, which alerted the AP police. It was the AP CID which had registered a case first.