Recent findings have made it clear that Pakistan funds various activities in India – from terror apologia in Delhi to stone pelting in Kashmir. Now it has come to knowledge that Pakistan’s ace intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have set up donation boxes at places of worship in the border villages of Rajasthan and using the money, donated by devotees, to fund terrorist activities in India.
According to a Times of India report, intelligence agencies of Rajasthan police have unearthed this new funding network while interrogating ISI spy Deena Khan.
During the interrogation, it was revealed that Khan was in charge of a Mazar in Chohtan village of Barmer district of Rajasthan. The money offered at the Mazar were being provided to the spies while Khan used to keep some share from the offerings. Reports suggest that a few people associated with the Mazar stay abroad and work as handlers of Pakistani spies.
“Deepa Khan has admitted that he had distributed Rs 3.5 lakh of Mazar’s donation to his fellow spies like Satram Maheswari and Vinod Maheswari,” a senior official of Rajasthan Police’s intelligence and security wing was quoted as saying.
“It is difficult to distribute money through hawala network as it can be traced. Hence, the donation boxes are easy way to collect money and distribute it among the spies,” the official said.
It could be noted that there is a sudden spike in make-shift places of worship in the border areas of Rajasthan. It is suspected that ISI must have set up several such donation boxes at multiple locations to fund terrorism in India.
“The district superintendents of police have been directed to keep a close vigil at such places. With enhanced coordination and strategic planning, we have traced the network of foreign intelligence,” R Suhasaa, a DIG of Rajasthan Police was quoted as saying.
Rajasthan Police had arrested Deena Khan, along with two of his associates, from a remote village of Barmer district on 2 June under Official Secrets Act and Section 120B of IPC. Intelligence sources suggest that, Khan – a resident of Talsar village in Barmer – had not only helped Pakistani smugglers, but also sent information to Pakistan via Facebook. Reports suggest that Khan was paid handsomely by ISI for passing on the confidential piece of information.
Three months ago, Rajasthan Police had arrested two spies – Santram and Vinod Maheshwari – and based on the leads obtained from them, it had arrested Khan. During the interrogation, Santram and Vinod admitted sending confidential information of Indian Army, war exercise and other important informations to Pakistan via Facebook. The two spies further revealed that Khan used to provide them funds from time to time.
Last month, a 37-year-old hawala operator named Altaf Qureshi was arrested from Masjid Bunder area in South Mumbai for funding an ISI agent. Aftab, booked under the Official Secrets Act, had reportedly passed on information about the Indian Army’s movements in Faizabad, Lucknow and Amritsar to officers posted at the Pakistan High Commission and also to the ISI.
