The Ahmedabad City Cybercrime Police on November 7 arrested Hiralba Jadeja, ‘wife’ of former Gujarat MLA Bhura Munja Jadeja and sister-in-law of the late Santokben Jadeja alias ‘Godmother’, for allegedly cheating a man of Rs 31.59 lakh by impersonating as an executive of Motilal Oswal company. The arrest of Hiralba and her alleged accomplice Sachin Mehta comes more than a year after an FIR was filed against unknown persons in the case, in October 2024.According to police, this is not just a case of cheating and fraud, but one involving a web of shell companies that were created in the names of people with modest means in Junagadh, allegedly by group of persons in Porbandar, in order to open mule bank accounts to transact “proceeds of crime” including those from Ahmedabad and the rest of the country.Hiralba has been in jail since May 1, 2025, after being arrested in another case in connection with the alleged abduction and extortion of a local family. Latest caseAccording to a statement from the Ahmedabad Cybercrime Police on November 10, the accused persons contacted the complainant, a 35-year-old acupressure therapist, on WhatsApp by adding him to a group ‘Motilal Oswal Invest Club’. Later, the accused called him on WhatsApp and promised huge returns if he invested in the stock market and specially Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). After gaining the trust of the complainant, the accused persons asked him to send money to “invest” and he allegedly sent Rs 31.59 lakh to them.During investigation, police found “Rs 50,000 (of the Rs 31.59 lakh) was deposited in an IDBI Bank account and Rs 3.25 lakh in an Axis Bank account, both of which were traced to Hiralba (60), wife of Bhura Munja Jadeja, of Porbandar, and Naitik Mavani, a resident of Mumbai.”The FIR in the case, filed on October 26, 2024, based on a complaint against unknown persons, stated that he had transferred over Rs 31.59 lakh in 12 transactions before he realised it was a fraud. He then called the cybercrime helpline ‘1930’. Unknown persons were booked under IPC sections for cheating and criminal conspiracy, as well as under the Information Technology Act.The Ahmedabad police learnt that the bank account (to which the complainant sent money) was opened in the name of Vitthal Pulse Commodities, a company “involved in import and export of agricultural goods” as per official records. It was found that more than Rs 129 crore worth of transactions had taken place through the bank account.Breakthrough Though an FIR was filed in the case in 2024, a breakthrough came during an investigation of the Junagadh Police in another case filed this year.The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Junagadh Police, while investigating a case filed on May 30, 2025, wherein several accused, including those in the Ahmedabad case, were booked for allegedly formed three shell firms – Arham Commodities, Vitthal Pulse Commodities, and Bharat Enterprise – in the names of people with modest means, and then using these entities to open 22 accounts across 9 different banks. The chargesheet in the case was filed in August 2025.Junagadh SOG’s investigation found that there were 83 cybercrime complaints filed against 11 of these bank accounts on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) and Samanvay Portal across 17 states and a Union Territory. There was a common thread between Junagadh and Ahmedabad cases: the proceeds of crime were allegedly routed through the same bank account opened in the name of Vitthal Pulse Commodities.Story continues below this adThe Junagadh Police have collected details of all the 83 cases associated with the 11 bank accounts they were investigating and written letters to all the police divisions across the county. Two of those FIRs had been filed in Ahmedabad – one of them at the Cybercrime Police station.‘Gola’ vendor on streets, company owner on paperThe Ahmedabad Cybercrime Police, after receiving the details from Junagadh Police, reopened their case and called the complainant. During investigation, they found the owner of Vitthal Pulse Commodities is a 34-year-old man who sells gola (ice lollies) on the streets of Junagadh city. This man was made a witness in the case later.Police Inspector P S Makwana, who is the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, said that the witness, in his statement, said it was Sachin Kanakrai Mehta (48) of Junagadh who allegedly involved him in the enterprise.Later, Hiralba Jadeja and Sachin Mehta were arrested from the respective jails in Junagadh and Porbandar. Naitik Mavani, who was allegedly handling the bank accounts, was named as an accused in the case. Mavani, allegedly a resident of Mumbai, remains absconding in cases filed by the police in Junagadh, Porbandar and Ahmedabad.Story continues below this adBoth the co-accused in this case have been named in two other cybercrime cases against Hiral — one filed by Porbandar Police on May 15 and the other by Junagadh Range Cybercrime Police on May 30. Both cases pertain to the alleged formation of shell companies to open bank accounts through which alleged proceeds of cybercrime were transacted and sent abroad, most likely to Dubai, UAE.Hiralba and Sachin Mehta, who are in judicial custody, are now back in the respective jails.Who is Hiralba Jadeja?Hiralba is referred to as the wife of Bhura Munja Jadeja in the FIR filed by police in the Ahmedabad case. Bhura Munja Jadeja was elected from the Ranavav-Kutiyana assembly constituency of Porbandar in 1995. After delimitation in the late 1990s, it became Kutiyana assembly constituency.Bhura Munja Jadeja, who died in 2016, is the younger brother of Sarman Munja Jadeja, a strongman from the Mer community. After Sarman was murdered in December 1986, his wife Santokben Jadeja took over and became notorious as the ‘Godmother’. Santokben was booked in various cases, including that of murder. She was elected to the Gujarat Assembly from the Kutiyana constituency on a Janata Dal ticket (1990-1995). She later moved to Rajkot and died of natural causes in Porbandar in March 2011.Story continues below this adSantokben’s son Kandhal Jadeja is the incumbent three-time MLA from Kutiyana (NCP: 2012, NCP: 2017, SP: 2022).Recent cases against HerThe October 2024 case in Ahmedabad is the fifth recent case in which Hiralba has been named as an accused. The first recent FIR against Hiralba was filed at Harbour Marine police station in Porbandar, on April 30, 2025, based on a complaint by one Bhana Arjan Odedara (65). She was booked on charges of abduction, extortion and criminal intimidation among other sections of the BNS after Leelu Kuchhadiya, who was visiting Israel, posted a video, claiming that her husband Bhanu and minor son Ranjit had been abducted by Jadeja and others for about 17 days and made to sign several blank cheques, demanding a sum of Rs 70 lakh from them. On May 1, 2025, Hiralba was arrested and has been in jail since then.The second FIR against Hiralba was filed on May 15, 2025, when she was booked along with five others for possession of monetary proceeds of cybercrime stashed in benami bank accounts in the names of casual labourers.The third FIR was filed at the Junagadh Range Cybercrime Police station on May 30, 2025, for allegedly forming three shell firms in the names of other accused persons and opening at least 22 benami bank accounts of which at least 11 are named in cybercrime complaints across various parts of India.Story continues below this adThe fourth FIR was filed at Kamlabaug police station in Porbandar on July 21, 2025, in which Hiralba was booked under the Gujarat Money Lenders Act for allegedly threatening, illegally confining and extorting a family involved in fishing business, and trapping them in a vicious cycle of debt. According to the complainant, against a loan of Rs75 lakh, they have already paid the Jadeja family more than Rs 4 crore in the form of interest and late payment penalties.