Eight accused of hawala, cyberfraud arrested

Patna: Police arrested eight accused involved in ‘hawala’ transactions, cyberfraud, and illegal liquor trade.

On Feb 7, Danapur police received an information that some people were holding a person captive at an apartment on Gola Road. Acting on the directive of the city SP (West) Bhanu Pratap Singh, a team raided the apartment, rescued the person, identified as Silana Gupta, son of Kedar Nath Gupta, resident of Trimurti Nagar, Danapur, who was found along with eight other persons.


The SP said interrogation revealed that the group was engaged in ‘hawala’ and illegar liquor businesses. “Gupta was involved in money transactions and cyberfraud, leading to his captivity as the accused pressured him to execute a land agreement. A thorough search of the flat led to the recovery of 19.875 litres of foreign liquor, Rs4.16 lakh in cash, and eight cellphones. All items were seized,” he said.

“Further investigation disclosed that Anish Kumar, Rahul Kumar, and Gupta jointly operated a ‘hawala’ network, luring local businessmen to invest with promises of 30% profit. They also duped people through cyberfraud. A separate FIR was registered at the cyber police station for the fraud. Additionally, a case was filed at Danapur police station, and another case under the Bihar Excise Act was registered,” Singh said on Tuesday.

The arrested accused have been identified as Anish, Vishal Kumar, Rahul, Rohit Kumar, Gupta, Ravi Krishna, Adarsh Kumar, and Rocky Kumar.