Note ban: ED arrests Surat-based Bhajiawala under PMLA

Surat, January 20

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it had arrested city-based financier Kishore Bhajiawala on money-laundering charges and for allegedly using 1,000 fake IDs to illegally convert Rs 1 crore in old notes into new post demonetisation.

The agency said it had placed “Jignesh Kishorebhai Bhajiawala (41) under arrest as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at about 11.45 pm on Thursday night” at its sub-zonal office here. He will be produced in court on Friday.

The ED had registered a criminal FIR against Bhajiawala and some of his family based on a CBI FIR against him, which was booked after the Income Tax department first conducted searches and seized gold and cash from his premises as part of their operation in December last year to check black money post the notes ban.

The case had gained prominence after investigating agencies detected the proverbial rags-to-riches ascent of the ‘chaiwala’-turned-financier based in the diamond city of Gujarat.

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“The Bhajiawala family has converted a huge amount of their unaccounted money, post demonetisation, into new high denomination currency and other valuables through collusion with bank officials and private persons by impersonating, forgery and by using forged documents.

“An amount of over Rs 1.02 crore in new currency was seized by the I-T department from his premises during searches at his home, shop and bank lockers held by them. It was also found that the accused had hired several bank lockers in benami names to stash their unaccounted assets,” the ED alleged. PTI