The Income Tax (I-T) Department on Wednesday raided shell companies in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh linked to alleged hawala operator Nandkishore Chaturvedi, who is absconding and is accused of engaging in hawala transactions, money laundering and creating multiple shell companies.
Chaturvedi, through his shell company Humsafar Dealers Pvt Ltd, allegedly gave unsecured loans to firms owned and controlled by Shridhar Patankar, the brother-in-law of Uddhav Thackeray.
Chaturvedi's name cropped up during probe into Pushpak Bullion
The name of Chaturvedi, a resident of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, had cropped up during an investigation by the ED into Mumbai-based Pushpak Bullion after the demonetization drive of 2016 led to laundering of political funds.
A CA, Chaturvedi is being probed by multiple agencies for his alleged role in laundering stocks, derivatives and share premiums run via an intricate web of nearly 150 shell companies, mostly headquartered in Kolkata.
“Profits earned from the transactions are invested in assets in multiple cities across Uttar Pradesh, as well as in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad,” said an official.
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