Rajkot: Acting on specific intelligence, the state monitoring cell (SMC) of Gujarat Police on Monday busted an illegal share trading racket, commonly called ‘dabba trading’, being run from a commercial complex on Yagnik Road. Police arrested three men, on of whom is a history-sheeter. Police raided offices numbered 108 and 109 at Madhav Complex and arrested Rakesh Popat, Mukesh Virdiya and Mahesh Parmar. Popat allegedly confessed that he and Kalyani were involved in dabba trading for the past four months and had carried out transactions worth Rs 20 crore in the last week alone. According to police, they operated on a weekly settlement basis, deleting transaction data every week to cover their tracks. Financial settlements were carried out through bank transfers and by hawala, using angadia services. Police seized electronic devices such as CPUs, keyboards, wifi dongles, mobile phones and chargers. The operation was carried out one day after DGP K L N Rao hosted a regional crime conference at the police commissioner’s office here on Sunday. A case was registered at Pradyuman Nagar police station against nine persons, including the key accused, Rakesh Popat and Mihir Kalyani, along with Kamlesh, Ashok, Natukaka, Jaydeep, Hiten Khachar, Mukesh Viradiya and Mahesh Parmar. They face charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 316(5), 318(4), 319(2), 238, 61(2), 2(7), and the Information Technology Act. According to SMC sources, they received intelligence that Popat and Kalyani were running a dabba trading racket, providing unauthorized tips for stock market trades and carrying out transactions without the required licences using mobile applications. The investigation uncovered an operation run on a massive scale. Kalyani was allegedly using an application for trading in shares and precious metals. The preliminary inquiry also brought to light Popat’s criminal past, noting that he had a dabba trading case filed against him in 2012 as well.
