The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested another person in connection with the Malegaon money laundering case where the accused allegedly misused the bank accounts of Malegaon residents and withdrew Rs 196 crore in five months.
According to the ED, the arrested Vesania Wasim Walimohammad, a resident of Surat, claimed that he worked for another accused Mohammad Abdul Samad on a salary of Rs 33,000 and withdrew cash from the bank on his instructions. Wasim was arrested from Surat on December 2 and produced before the court on Tuesday.
On November 21, ED arrested Nagni Akram Mohammad Shafi.
The ED submitted to the court on Tuesday that both Shafi and Wasim, who were arrested earlier, were working for Samad alias Challenger King or his accomplice Jimmy. All of them were part of a WhatsApp group through which Shafi and Wasim were instructed to make transactions and withdraw cash from various accounts and further deliver the cash to various individuals, the ED claimed.
Cash withdrawal submitted by ED cannot be done in connivance with bank officials. It was also submitted that although Wasim was not an account holder, he was allowed to withdraw cash from the bank account. The agency requested Wasim’s custody, saying they want to investigate the involvement of the end users of the funds and more people.
The agency claims it was a larger conspiracy to allegedly park money in bank accounts and withdraw them without informing the account holders. The agency also claimed that hundreds of notes were found in Wasim’s house which were used as tokens for the movement of hawala channels.
Special Judge AC Daga said that considering the role of the accused, there is preliminary evidence that Wasim was involved in withdrawing cash from the bank account without authorization. The court said that the ED should be given an opportunity to investigate the end user of the funds. Wasim was sent to ED custody till December 11. Meanwhile, Shafi was sent to judicial custody for two weeks on Wednesday.