HAWALA CASE: FORMER J&K MINISTER HELD

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday arrested fugitive former minister Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh from Keerian Gandial village in Kathua district, said officials.

Jammu senior superintendent of police (SSP) Chandan Kohli confirmed the arrest of the former minister.

“The former minister was arrested from the house of his friend in Keerian Gandial village in Kathua district,” he said.

The former Congress minister was absconding since March 31 after police recovered nearly Rs 7 lakh of Hawala money and arrested a Kashmiri man, “who was given the task by former minister Jatinder Singh”.

“With the arrest of Babu Singh, we will be able to establish the entire network of Hawala money, which had been sent to Jammu to fund and fuel terrorism in the region,” said a senior police officer.

On March 31, acting specific inputs that some unknown persons were going to receive Hawala money at Jammu, several checking points were established in Jammu city. On suspicion, a police team had arrested one Mohammad Shareef Shah, 64, of Syedpora, Kokernag in Anantnag district, from Gandhi Nagar area. The police recovered Rs 6.90 lakh from his possession. On questioning, Shareef Shah revealed that he was asked by Jatinder Singh (former minister and chairperson of Naturemankind Friendly Global Party) to collect money from one Omer at Srinagar. After receiving money from Omer, Shareef had come to Jammu and was caught.

On further questioning, Shareef disclosed names of his local and foreign associates as Javed and Khatib, residents of POK and Farooq Khan of Toronto in Canada. Shareef was also the administrator of a ‘secret’ Whatsapp group having members not limited to Pakistanis and Saudis.

Three others Sardar Gurdev Singh of Jammu, Sidhant Sharma of Kathua and Mohammad Sharief Sartaj of Jammu were also detained for questioning regarding the Hawala transaction.