Uttar Pradesh: Four held for ‘links’ with terror funding racket

The four suspects — Ummed Ali, Sanjay Agarwal, Sameer Salmani alias Sonu and Airaj Ali — were arrested from Nighasan area of Kheri district in the night.

While Salmani is a native of Bareilly, others belong to Lakhimpur Kheri. Police seized their cellphones and were trying to retrieve call data.

The suspects were produced before a local court, which sent them to jail, said Additional Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shailendra Lal.

UP DGP Om Prakash Singh said the case would be transferred to the ATS for investigation. “If need be, the ATS will seek police remand of the accused,” said Singh.

According to the police, two residents of Nepal — Vijay Singh and Chandra Bhuda — used to transfer money to the accused.

The Nepal Police had arrested the duo in connection with another case. The DGP said the money sent from the neighbouring country was allegedly then handed over to those involved in terror activities.

Police claimed that during interrogation, the four men told them that they used to transfer money on directions of four other men — Mumtaz, Faheem and Sadakat Ali of Bareilly and Sirajudeen, whose hometown or current address has not been ascertained. The UP Police is conducting raids to trace them.

The arrested men also told the police that they would get money transferred from other countries to some bank accounts in Nepal, said an officer.

The money would later be withdrawn, brought to India and converted to Indian currency.

The arrested men used to get a 6 per cent commission for handing over the money to Faheem and Sadakat, police said. The duo would take the cash to Delhi for anti-national activities, police said, quoting the arrested men. It also came to light that the Janakpur branch of Nepal’s Rashtra Bank was hacked recently and Nepalese Rs 49 lakh was transferred to the bank accounts Vijay Singh and Chandra Bhuda, both residents of Kailali district in Nepal. The duo allegedly routed the stolen money to India through different sources.