The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday arrested a Kashmiri man and recovered around ₹7 lakh of hawala money from him. Police said that the accused said that he was given the task by former minister Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh.
“On the basis of a specific input that some people are going to receive Hawala money in Jammu, several checking points were established. Based on suspicion, the police arrested Mohammad Shareef Shah, 64, of Anantnag district, from Gandhi Nagar area,” said additional director general of police Mukesh Singh. They recovered ₹6.9 lakh from his possession.
“On questioning, Shah disclosed that he was tasked by Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh of Kathua (former minister and chairman of Nature - Mankind Friendly Global Party) to collect the money from one Omer at Srinagar. After receiving the money from Omer, Shareef came to Jammu and was caught,” said the ADGP.
On further questioning, Shareef disclosed the names of his local and foreign associates - Javed and Khatib, residents of PoK and Farooq Khan of Toronto in Canada. “Shareef is also the admin of a secret Whatsapp group which has members not limited to Pakistanis and Saudis”, said Singh.
The ADGP said that the following arrest of Shah, three other men identified as Gurdev Singh of Jammu, Sidhant Sharma of Kathua and Mohammad Sharief Sartaj of Jammu were also detained for questioning regarding the Hawala transaction. A case has been registered and investigation is in progress, he added.
{{/usCountry}}The ADGP said that the following arrest of Shah, three other men identified as Gurdev Singh of Jammu, Sidhant Sharma of Kathua and Mohammad Sharief Sartaj of Jammu were also detained for questioning regarding the Hawala transaction. A case has been registered and investigation is in progress, he added.
{{/usCountry}}The former minister’s cellphone was found switched off and text messages didn’t elicit any response either.
Babu had initially launched the International Democratic Party and then contested and won 2002 assembly elections from Kathua. Subsequently, he was inducted as power minister in the Congress-PDP coalition government.