In a significant money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out extensive search operations across Maharashtra and Gujarat, seizing financial records, digital evidence, and other documents linked to alleged suspicious banking transactions worth between ₹80 crore and ₹90 crore. Investigators are examining a network of transactions allegedly routed through bank accounts associated with a Malegaon-based trader, while also probing possible links to hawala channels.
According to sources, the agency conducted coordinated searches at more than 16 locations across Maharashtra and Gujarat. The raids covered Malegaon, Nashik, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Surat, among other cities. Search operations continued late into the night as officials collected banking records, electronic data, financial documents, and other materials believed to be relevant to the investigation. Authorities are attempting to determine the origin of the funds, the nature of the transactions, and the ultimate beneficiaries.
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The Fictitious APMC Job Bait
The money laundering case stems from an initial First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Chhavani Police Station in Malegaon against a local cold-drink and tea distributor named Siraj Ahmed Harun Memon. Investigators revealed that Siraj targeted nearly a dozen local youths from economically weak backgrounds, luring them with promises of securing permanent, lucrative jobs at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).
Under the pretext of completing registration and corporate documentation formalities for these jobs, Siraj successfully collected the vulnerable youths’ Know Your Customer (KYC) details—including their PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, and freshly issued mobile SIM cards. Instead of submitting them for job applications, the accused used these stolen identities to establish fake shell businesses and open highly active corporate bank accounts at the Malegaon branch of the Nashik Merchant Co-operative Bank (NAMCO Bank).
The Ghost Fixed Deposit and Loan Mirror
The illegal operation was uncovered when one of the victims, Jayesh Misal, visited the bank to check his personal records. To his utter shock, he discovered that a massive ₹2 crore Fixed Deposit (FD) had been fraudulently created under his name without his knowledge.
Even more alarming, records showed that an immediate ₹1.9 crore loan had been sanctioned and withdrawn against that same ghost deposit. Realizing that their identities were being actively used to pass massive sums of underground money, Misal and 11 other local youths rushed to the regional enforcement cells to lodge a formal complaint.
Hawala Distribution and the ‘Challenger King’
A forensic breakdown of the transaction trails revealed that the syndicate moved around ₹90 crore through 14 newly opened accounts in a span of just two months. The money was routed to 21 distinct sole proprietorship concerns before being converted back into hard cash.
According to senior ED officials, the cash withdrawals were handled by ground operatives, identified as Nagani Akram Mohammad Shafi and Vasim Valimohmad Bhesaniya. The duo systematically distributed the laundered cash tranches directly to prominent hawala operators across major trading hubs in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Surat. Investigators contend that the entire domestic network was executing commands sent from abroad by an international mastermind named Mehmood Bhagad, widely known in underground betting circles as “Challenger King” or “MD”.
The anti-money laundering agency suspects that the rapid, multi-layered transaction matrix may have been weaponized to bypass traditional financial tracking or route illicit election-related funding. While Siraj Memon and his immediate distribution handlers have been arrested, tracking units are working alongside international forensic agencies to freeze the assets of the absconding “Challenger King.”
