 Early Times Report
Jammu, June 5: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday arrested a college lecturer from Uttarakhand in connection with an alleged ISI-linked hawala network that is suspected of channeling funds for anti-national activities across the country.
The accused has been identified as Pooja, a resident of Haridwar. Police alleged that she, along with her associate Sonam, was receiving money from a group linked to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and facilitating financial transactions aimed at creating unrest in different parts of India.
The arrest follows a raid conducted earlier this week by a team of Jammu and Kashmir Police from Kathua district in coordination with the Uttarakhand Police.
On Sunday, the police team carried out a search operation in a village falling under the Piran Kaliyar police station area near Roorkee, where Sonam was arrested. Sonam was working as a teacher in a private school in Uttarakhand.
The arrest followed intelligence inputs gathered during the interrogation of a suspect arrested earlier in Kathua.
Reports said that during the joint interrogation, the accused Sonam confessed that she had transferred approximately Rs 20 lakh into various bank accounts. In return for these transactions, she received a commission of Rs 2 lakh.
According to police, the investigation has uncovered a sophisticated network used to channel funds across multiple accounts.
Police said Sonam came into contact with a man identified as Rahul Khan, whose arrest in Kathua led investigators to her. During questioning, it was allegedly revealed that Sonam was introduced to a person named Umar through a friend and was later connected to Umar’s cousin, Haseen.
These handlers provided her with multiple SIM cards, ATM cards, and bank passbooks through courier parcels, reports said.
She would receive cash in these accounts and then distribute the money into 20 to 25 other accounts, likely to obscure the trail.
During interrogation, Sonam allegedly disclosed the involvement of her friend Pooja, leading investigators to widen the probe and subsequently arrest the college lecturer.
Haridwar Rural Superintendent of Police, Shekhar Chandra Suyal, said Pooja was employed as a lecturer at a college and had come into contact with Sonam during that period. According to police, the two developed a close friendship before allegedly becoming part of the network.
Investigators claim that the duo, along with several youths from Jammu and Kashmir, received funds from Pakistan through multiple channels for activities considered detrimental to national interests.
During the investigation, police reportedly uncovered financial transactions involving multiple bank accounts. Officials said the money was routed through a network of accounts and that the total value of suspicious transactions ran into crores of rupees. |
