Ranchi, Nov. 10: Income tax officials have zeroed in on a few Mumbai-based diamond exporting companies that were apparently used by Madhu Koda and his aides to divert Rs 110 crore to overseas destinations using hawala channels.

One of them is Balajee Bullion & Commodities that has as partners Vinod Sinha and Sanjay Choudhary, both close aides of the former Jharkhand chief minister, and Manoj Punamia, a gold and diamond exporter.

“These companies used to import gold bars and uncut diamonds from offshore destinations. Payment for the purchases were through cheques. But the same companies used to export jewellery worth crores and managed to get money in cash through hawala channels for further investments in domestic and international ventures,” the IT director (investigation), Ujjwal Chaudhary, told The Telegraph from Mumbai.

The Balajee group also owned a couple of more companies, one of which was Suryam, that may have been used as a front company to receive cash payments in the guise of payments for diamond jewellery.

IT officials said they were in the possession of papers that indicated overseas transactions totalling more than Rs 110 crore as on December 31, 2007 when Koda was chief minister.

Koda, whose interrogation began in Ranchi today, and his aides are being investigated by IT, Enforcement Directorate and state Vigilance Bureau for having amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 2,000 cr through illegal investments and money laundering.

IT officials maintained the exact magnitude of transactions could well surpass initial estimates, and added that Indonesia-based hawala dealer Anil Vastawade and chartered accountant S.K. Naredi played a key role in diverting Koda’s investments through hawala channels.

“They were the main facilitators for money transfers and property acquisitions by the former chief minister and his associates,” said an IT official, adding that they would now request authorities in Indonesia to help them locate Vastawade.

Two hawala dealers named in the case, Manoj Punamia and Arvind Vyas, are known to have made huge transfers to Vastawade. Chaudhary revealed that besides the ED, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence was also involved.

He said the IT department would now wait till tomorrow before issuing arrest warrants against Koda aides Vinod Sinha and Sanjay Choudhary, suspected to be the key men behind Koda’s illegal investments.

“We have commissioned the police for locating both Vinod and Sanjay if they fail to appear on or before tomorrow (November 11),” Ujjwal Chaudhary asserted. IT officials, who began questioning Koda today at his Deendayal Nagar official residence, also continued with their interrogation of Delhi-based fixer Devendra Mukhiya and mines and geology department official Basant Bhattacharya.

The IT passed on a questionnaire to three former ministers under the ED’s scanner _ Kamlesh Kumar Singh, Bandhu Tirkey and Bhanu Pratap Shahi _for them to answer and return within a week. Koda is to appear before the ED on November 15.