Police net Rs 86 lakh in 24 hours

ON Saturday morning, MRA Marg police claimed to have nabbed three people and seized over Rs 46 lakh during a routine nakabandi.

ON Saturday morning, MRA Marg police claimed to have nabbed three people and seized over Rs 46 lakh during a routine nakabandi. The same team had unearthed a similar seizure of over Rs 40 lakh just 24 hours before.

Such an accurate coincidence has never been reported earlier. While MRA cops boasted of their alertness, an enthusiastic few even claimed that the hawala angle couldn't be ruled out.

Senior police inspector Sunil Babar with the seized loot of Rs 46 lakh pic/Atul Kamble

An investigation by Sunday MiD DAY revealed that the cash was neither a hawala deal nor a token amount for any unsolicited act. It belonged to traders in jewellery and cloth with outlets in and around Bhuleshwar and Kalbadevi.

The money seized was part of their traditional method of couriering, known as 'angadia' in Gujarati, literally meaning a carrier of valuables. This system has played a major role in the growth of India's diamond industry.

Those arrested on Saturday were identified as Jagdish Vyas (30) and Deepak Joshi (23), employed with Kantilal Angadiya, while the third courier man identified as Ramanbhai Patel (47) had recently joined a private S Jyantibhai Angadiya.

According to Ramnik Shah (name changed), who runs one such service, "An insider must have tipped the police about the arrival of our men. We pay service tax to the government and have to take a lot of risk to earn a few hundred rupees."

He added, "Ours is a trust-based business I have been in this business for four years. Such arrests will impact our trade; we will approach the court to get the money released. There are hundreds of angadias operating even today and over 500 families are dependant on this traditional courier business. A hawala operator will not have a proper office or pay taxes to the government; we are not hawala operators."

Rupesh (name changed), also in the same business, added, "After learning of the arrests, we alerted our office in Nanded not to send couriers. However it was too late, the men had already started."

Sunil Babar, Senior Inspectoru00a0 at MRA Marg police station said that since the accused were not revealing the source of income and to whom it was to be handed over, they have been booked under section 41(1)(D) of Criminal Procedure Code. The police have also tipped the Income Tax Department.

The accused say
Ramanbhai Patel (47) a native of Mehsana, Gujarat, was into diamond designing, earning Rs 3,000 per month.

With recession hitting the market, thousands of artisans along with Patel lost their jobs. So Patel took up the angadia job two months ago and was being paid Rs 2,500 monthly. Patel claims he has been caught for the first time and apart from getting a return air-conditioned bus ticket, they are also paid a commission of Rs 400 per trip. Patel explains that bundles of Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 100 denominations are concealed in specially tailored jackets, with over 20 zipped pockets. An adhesive tape is then used to wrap the entire body with the jacket, to ensure that the currency does not fall. A loose shirt is worn on top to mislead people. While travelling, they do not get off from the bus until they reach their destination. And since courier operators are from the same places as the owners, they do not try to run away, explained Patel. All three accused have decided to return to Gujarat and do not want to do the job anymore.