The Hyderabad City Police have formed special teams to keep a tab on hawala operators in the city.
In last three days the police caught five persons and seized cash of around Rs.60 lakh from them at different places.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar instructed the force to mount surveillance on all those who were previously caught in hawala-related cases. Directions were also issued to police teams to conduct surprise checking in the city and to seize cash being shifted in a suspicious manner.
Anjani Kumar had already held a meeting with senior officials and asked them to keep a tab on the flow of unaccounted cash. The police suspect some candidates might use cash to influence voters in the run up to the elections, hence a stringent mechanism is
being put in place to foil their plans, officials said.
Apart from the local police, the Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force also will keep a watch on hawala channel operators while teams of the Special Branch too will be gathering information.
The senior police officials have instructed the field level officers to videograph the cash seizures and issue receipts wherever necessary to avoid allegations and complaints of highhandedness or misappropriation of money. Also, they were instructed to inform their immediate superior of the cash seizure and report to the local returning officer concerned.
Meanwhile, the police asked people carrying cash along with them to also carry necessary supporting papers.