Bengaluru: In a shocking incident, a man armed with a machete on Tuesday was caught red-handed by residents and passers-by at Jaraganahalli and handed him over Puttenahalli police. This act helped police bust an inter-state money laundering racket in the city. 

The arrested accused is identified as Mohammed Sahil, who was wielding the machete, and later tracked down his associates Faisal, Fazal, and Abdul Manas from Kerala. They recovered over Rs.20 lakh of unaccounted cash and hundreds of deposit slips from various banks from their houses. Police claim they are part of a huge money laundering racket involving crores of rupees.

“Inquiries revealed that Sahil and his associates were involved in a racket where they would deposit money into accounts for a commission of Rs 60,000 per month. During a search of their residences, we recovered Rs.20,15,700 in cash, along with a cash counting machine,” said a senior police officer. The police also recovered hundreds of deposit slips with details of multiple accounts in 25 banks over the last three months.

On Thursday, the police arrested Abdul Manas, the fourth accomplice of the three arrested accused.

The four accused revealed that they were operating on the direction of another man who is currently absconding.

“They converted unaccounted cash into white money by depositing it into various bank accounts as part of a money-laundering exercise,” Harish Pandey, DCP (South) said. “A total of Rs. 31.5 crores seem to have been deposited in the 185 out of 2,656 accounts for which we have received statements from the banks already,” he added.

Further investigation is in progress and the police have the cooperation of other agencies who specialize in money laundering.