VADODARA: A school run by Salahuddin Sheikh, an accused in hawala racket and religious conversion activities, is also under the city police scanner. Cops investigating the case claimed that Sheikh also laundered a lot of cash using the school in Chhota Udepur, in which he is a trustee, as a front.
“The initial investigations have revealed that Sheikh had also used his position in the school for laundering money. He got a huge amount from hawala in the last five years and some of it was diverted by using this school as a front,” said a senior police official. The cops are also investigating if the conversion activities were undertaken by him in the school.
The investigators said the city-based Afmi Trust run by Sheikh got Rs 19 crores towards donations from 14 different institutions and trusts located in various countries. Among others, the trust got Rs 7.43 crores from Gujarati Muslim Association (USA), Rs 33 lakh from A Kareem Pathan, USA, Rs 1.20 crores from Retail Global Fashion (USA), Rs 2.05 crores from Majlise Alfala Trust based in the UK and Rs 32.11 lakh from Firdaus Foundation in the UK.
Police said Sheikh received about Rs 60 crores from Dubai by hawala and it was routed to different states for building mosques. “The money was also used for sponsoring legal expenses of the persons arrested in anti-CAA protests and Delhi riots,” the police said.
The special operations group (SOG) has arrested Mohammed Hussain Gulam Rasool Ansari, an employee of Afmi Trust for destroying a pen drive that had evidence of the trust’s transactions. He has been remanded to five days of police custody. The cops said that Ansari’s interrogation will further reveal the trust’s activities.
Sheikh and the other co-accused Umar Gautam are expected to be brought from Uttar Pradesh to the city in the next couple of days.
