Key Madhu Koda aide nabbed at Mumbai airport

Arvind Vyas, a key aide of disgraced former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, was detained at Mumbai International Airport on Thursday while trying to flee the country.

Sources said Vyas was booked on a flight to Dubai. He was detained by immigration authorities at the time of security clearance after his name popped up on a list of persons against whom lookout notices have been issued.

Enforcement directorate (ED) and income-tax teams are believed to be questioning him.

Vyas’ escape would have been a big blow to ED, which has failed to track down other Koda aides Binod Sinha and Sanjay Choudhary and has seen Manoj Punamiya slip away after he was granted anticipatory bail by a Mumbai court.

Vyas is accused of delivering money to Choudhary, who oversaw Koda’s Dubai operations. He, along with Choudhary and Sinha, was a director of Koda’s front company Balaji Bullion and Retailers in Mumbai. They used the firm to transfer over Rs1,400 crore through hawala for investment in Dubai, Thailand, Indonesia, Sweden and Liberia.