Eatery owner booked over SIMI funds

The Enforcement Directorate has booked a 22-year-old resident of Jamui district of Bihar, who ran a roadside eatery in Transport Nagar area in Raipur, under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly raising funds for the banned outfits Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM).

Sources said initial investigations have revealed that more than `1 crore was deposited in different accounts held by Dheeraj Sao (22) in the last four months. He had links with IM handlers based in Pakistan and Bangladesh. He used to charge 13 per cent per cent commission on total amount deposited in his account for each transaction, they added.

Investigations by the ED have revealed that Sao came in touch with one Khalid from Pakistan in 2011 and since then he had received huge amounts from the latter, which were later deposited in the accounts of alleged IM operatives Jubair Hussain, Raju Khan and Ayesha Bano in Mangalore. “Sao allegedly acted as a mediator to send cash to IM and SIMI terrorists, which he admitted during interrogation,” sources said.

“The ED sleuths have identified three bank accounts, allegedly belonging to IM operatives, to which amounts were transferred from Sao’s account. The agency is scrutinising the transaction details of account numbers 140500087, 001405500086 and 18801004581,” sources said.

Courtesy: The Asian Age