The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted extensive searches on Tuesday across Ranchi, Mumbai, and Surat under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), targeting Naresh Kumar Kejriwal, a prominent chartered accountant and suspected hawala operator, along with his family members and associates. The raids, spanning multiple premises, uncovered digital devices, documents, and financial records linked to alleged unauthorised cross-border transactions. Investigators seized evidence of undisclosed foreign shell entities in the UAE, Nigeria, and the USA, controlled from India, which have reportedly amassed over ₹900 crore in unexplained reserves. These entities allegedly facilitated the layering of illicit funds, with approximately ₹1,500 crore remitted back to India via fictitious telegraphic transfers, bypassing regulatory scrutiny.

The probe originated from Income Tax Department intelligence highlighting Kejriwal's role in managing a sophisticated hawala network, where bogus remittances disguised illegal inflows as legitimate business dealings. ED officials described the operation as a "layered money trail" designed to evade detection, with shell companies used for parking and repatriating black money. No arrests were made during the searches, but the agency has invoked FEMA provisions for contravention of foreign exchange rules, potentially leading to penalties up to three times the contravened amount. This marks a significant escalation in the ED's crackdown on hawala operators in eastern India, where Jharkhand has emerged as a hub for such activities amid its mineral-rich economy.

In a separate but concurrent development, the ED raided 12 locations in Maharashtra on Monday, focusing on the Jamia Islamia Ishatul Uloom (JIIU) Trust in Nandurbar district and Mumbai premises linked to a Yemeni national, Al-Khadami Khaled Ibrahim Saleh, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The action stems from an FIR and April chargesheet filed by Akkalkuwa police, accusing the trust of sheltering the overstaying Yemeni couple—who allegedly obtained fraudulent Aadhaar, PAN, and bank accounts—and violating Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) norms by diverting foreign funds to unregistered NGOs.

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The Ministry of Home Affairs had cancelled JIIU's FCRA registration on July 15, 2024, after uncovering the unauthorised channelling of donations, which included opaque transactions worth crores. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who flagged the trust as "Maharashtra's Al-Falah" in November, welcomed the raids, alleging land encroachments, inflated student records, and suspicious funding tied to northern states. The Yemeni nationals, who entered on expired medical visas around 2015-16, face charges of illegal stay and financial irregularities, with the probe now tracing the end-use of laundered funds potentially linked to Unani medical operations at the trust's As-Salam Hospital.

These back-to-back ED operations reflect a broader intensification of financial crime probes ahead of the 2026 state elections, with agencies prioritising hawala and foreign funding violations that could influence political funding. In Jharkhand, the Kejriwal case could expose ties to local businesses in mining and real estate, while the Maharashtra trust probe risks amplifying communal narratives in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar region. Both investigations are expected to yield chargesheets within months, with the ED emphasising its commitment to dismantling networks that undermine economic transparency.

As digital forensics continue on seized materials, authorities warn that such rackets not only erode tax revenues but also facilitate terror financing and election malpractices. With over ₹2,400 crore in combined suspicious flows under scrutiny, these cases underscore the ED's pivotal role in fortifying India's financial safeguards against global laundering threats.

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