Click to play videoPune: Syed Hasan Ali, the Pune-based businessman and horse trader at the centre of a major money-laundering Hawala racket is believed to be a “low profile, good man” by those who knew him in Pune.
"He is a very nice man. He came with his family here. He has always been very low profile. Whatever we read about his alleged connections in a scam seems false,” says one of the members at the Pune’s Royal Western India Turf Club.
Affluent-class businessmen who found horse-trade a passion much like Hasan do not believe the man they met at their regular polo events is a prime suspect in India's biggest financial racket.
People who knew Hasan Ali Khan at the Royal Western India Turf Club as a fellow member say he has always been a decent man. “I met Hasan Ali in a race course and prior to that I was introduced to him through Abbas, who said, ‘meet my son-in-law.’ I found him quite a decent person,” says one club member.
Most of Hasan’s acquaintances are shocked at the media reports. “I was shocked to hear such a huge amount has been recovered from him. I don’t believe its all true. I have alwys found him a very good man.”
But the good man has proven hard to trace. Hyderabad police say Hasan Ali was involved in more than 11 criminal cases, and was even arrested twice on charges of cheating, forgery and car theft. Sources have told CNN-IBN that Hasan has three wives arrested in Hyderabad, whom the police are trying to track down.
Hasan is alleged to have been a small-time conman, who climbed up the ladder when he came into contact with Hawala operators in 1998.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.