Jaipur: Income tax raids on wedding planners expose murky hawala-crypto nexus, officials seize Rs 20 crore in cash and jewelry

In a startling development, the income tax raids on major wedding planners across Jaipur have exposed a murky network of hawala transactions and cryptocurrencies. According to a report by the Economic Times, the officials have seized Rs 20 crore in cash and jewelry and frozen as many as three crypto wallets.

The report says that the wedding planners under the scanner allegedly converted payments received from their clients into cryptocurrencies. They reportedly used hawala networks to transfer the funds, the officials discovered.

According to media reports, income tax officials raided the premises of over 20 wedding planners across Jaipur. During the search operations, the I-T teams unearthed secret crypto accounts of Stablecoin and Bitcoin.

A NewsX report said three crypto wallets were discovered. While two were linked to local platforms, one was being operated via an international network, the report added. Undocumented cash was routed through hawala networks and converted into cryptocurrency, the officials found.