Noida, Aug 1 (PTI) A Haryana-based company secretary has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF) in connection with its probe into alleged illegal involvement of Chinese nationals in businesses in India and hawala transactions, officials said on Tuesday.

The company secretary has been identified as Nikhil Goyal, 28, who was held from Narnaul in Haryana on Monday night by the Noida unit of the STF, they said.

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"Goyal was later arrested upon interrogation last night. He was produced in a court in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Tuesday which has remanded him in judicial custody,” a police officer told PTI, wishing not to be named.

According to the probe agency, the company secretary had helped the Chinese nationals in floating several companies in India which were used for suspected hawala transactions by them.

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Goyal was in touch with Xui Fei alias Kelay (36), the Chinese national who was arrested in June 2022 from Greater Noida after he was found staying in India without valid documents. He was staying in a group housing society with his Indian girlfriend, who hails from Nagaland, the officer said.

Xui Fei was found illegally operating a Chinese-style restro bar in a remote village of Greater Noida. The facility was being run clandestinely and had Chinese nationals living in Delhi-NCR as its chief patrons, according to the police.

The STF, which is probing the hawala case, has arrested 21 people – 11 Chinese, two Tibetans and eight Indians – in connection with the case so far and has filed two charge sheets in court.

After the case came to light, around 50 Chinese nationals have been arrested from Noida and Greater Noida after they were found living without valid visas or passports since June 2022.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)