Cops bust e-hawala gang in Gurugram with alleged links to Pak, four suspects held

Police on Saturday arrested four members of a gang from Gurugram for allegedly threatening a Sohna-based businessman and demanding ₹5 lakh from him

Police on Saturday arrested four members of a gang from Gurugram for allegedly threatening a Sohna-based businessman and demanding ₹5 lakh from him.

Gurugram: Gurugram police arrested four accused of an international gang seeking extortion from Pakistan and Dubai, in Gurugram, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. (PTI Photo)(PTI08_20_2022_000176B) (PTI)

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that on July 30, the victim received a video call on his WhatsApp number. “The caller threatened the victim and demanded ₹5 lakh. He also threatened to kill the businessman if he did meet their demands. The victim also received a video where a man was seen shooting in a forest area,” he said.

Sangwan said that the victim approached police, following which a case under Section 387 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Sadar police station in Sohna.

The suspects have been identified as Hrithik (19), Gulshan (20), Sandeep alias Sandy (20), hailing from Bihar and Bunty Kumar (24), of Kurukshetra in Haryana, said police, adding that they were living in a rented accommodation in Gurugram since the last six months.

Police said they recovered 99 ATM cards, 62 SIM cards, 23 mobile phones and one bank passbook from their possession.

Sangwan said the suspects used voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls to the victims and demanded protection money. “The gang members revealed that they used to pose as members of an infamous gang and demanded protection money,” he said.

Police recovered their voice recordings, WhatsApp messages and call details to establish their involvement in the crime and their connections with other gang members in Pakistan and Dubai.

During questioning, the suspects revealed that their accomplices operate from Pakistan and Dubai and ask them to target businessmen.

Police said the suspects in India used to get 10% commission of the total amount received in bank accounts and the rest used to get deposited in bank accounts that were operated from Pakistan.

Sangwan said they have recovered mobile numbers and messages from numbers that are active in Pakistan and Dubai. “The suspects were involved in duping people and extorting money for the last six months,” he said.

Earlier on July 30, a special task force (STF) of Haryana had arrested seven members of a gang with a similar modus operandi.

Sangwan said the suspects also revealed that they are trained in making threatening calls to politicians and businessmen to extort money. “The gang members transfer money through ‘e-hawala’ which is their prime source of earning. They have access to the details of people who are working in the Gulf countries and approach them to receive money through them instead of bank transfers,” he said.

The suspects have over 3,000 bank accounts on forged documents and over 5,000 rented accounts for which they pay ₹10,000 a year and operate from those accounts. Each member earns over ₹2 lakh a month through the digital hawala process, police added.

Investigations have revealed that at least 50 gangs based in Pakistan are training youngsters in India to run ‘digital hawala’ networks and within eight months they have increased their strength by adding 600 people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.