From a Street Scuffle to a ₹1,600 Crore Racket: Kanpur Police Alert ED and RBI Over Massive Financial Fraud
Kanpur, February 28, 2026 — A routine investigation into what was initially reported as a street scuffle in the Chakeri area of Kanpur has led police to uncover a massive hawala and money laundering syndicate. The network involves suspicious cash withdrawals totaling ₹1,600 crore. Six individuals have been arrested in connection with the case, including four who were apprehended following a police encounter.
Kanpur Police have recovered ₹10.73 lakh from the accused and are coordinating with multiple central agencies to investigate the vast interstate financial network.
From a Scuffle to a Multi-Crore Syndicate
The investigation began a fortnight ago near the Shyam Nagar police outpost. The incident was initially registered as a physical altercation, but further probing revealed it was a targeted highway robbery. Two cash carriers, Wasid and Arshad, who were transporting ₹25 lakh for a Jajmau-based scrap and leather businessman named Mehfooz, had been robbed.
While tracking the suspects involved in the physical robbery, the police cyber cell and financial crime units began investigating the source of the transported cash. Technical analysis of the businessman’s banking patterns revealed severe anomalies. Investigators discovered that ₹3.20 crore had been withdrawn from a single account on the exact day of the robbery.
₹850 Crore Cash Roll and Interstate Links
The financial probe quickly expanded beyond the initial 14 identified bank accounts. An extensive audit revealed a highly organized network utilizing 68 bank accounts spread across 12 different banks.
Over the past two and a half years, the syndicate maintained a massive “cash roll” (turnover) of ₹850 crore. During this same period, staggering cash withdrawals amounting to ₹1,600 crore were made from these 68 accounts. Police suspect these accounts were systematically utilized for hawala transactions, large-scale tax evasion, and funneling undeclared wealth under the guise of trading operations.
Further tracking of the syndicate’s operational footprint revealed active links extending well beyond Uttar Pradesh. Police have traced the movement of suspects, locations, and funds directly to the Jama Masjid area in Delhi, Kashmir, and cross-border locations in Nepal.
Multi-Agency Probe and Arrests
Given the unprecedented scale of the financial irregularities, Kanpur Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal confirmed that the police are formally notifying the Income Tax Department, Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These central agencies will conduct detailed investigations into the suspected hawala operations, tax evasion, and potential institutional negligence at the bank level.
Acting on intelligence gathered during the probe, police successfully arrested a total of six suspects. Notably, four of these suspects were arrested following an armed police encounter. In recognition of the team’s success in cracking the financial racket, Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal announced a cash reward of ₹1 lakh for the investigating police team.
