Ex-minister Babu Singh arrested in hawala case

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Srinagar, April 9

The police on Saturday arrested a former J&K minister for his alleged role in a hawala case. Jitendra Singh, aka Babu Singh, was arrested in Kathua and subsequently shifted to Jammu for questioning, a senior police official said. On April 6, the police had issued a lookout notice against Singh after his name surfaced in the case on March 31 when the police arrested four people, reportedly part of a hawala racket.

Rs7 lakh seized

• Rs7 lakh had been seized from Mohd Shareef Shah (64), who was arrested in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. The money was reportedly meant to be handed over to Babu Singh.
• The police had claimed the money was meant for subversive and anti-national activities.

At least Rs 7 lakh has been seized from one of the alleged operators, Mohmmad Shareef Shah (64), who was arrested in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. The money was meant to be handed over to Singh.

Babu Singh was a minister in the PDP-Congress government in 2002. He strongly opposed the abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading of J&K into two Union Territories. Singh frequently spoke against the Centre’s move and demanded restoring J&K’s special status and statehood.

On Friday, DGP Dilbagh Singh said the politician was absconding. “After his questioning, a complete picture will emerge in the case which is linked to Pakistan and separatism,” he had said, adding that some people had already been arrested and the money trail clearly indicated that the fund was meant for subversive and anti-national activities.

Mohmmad Shareef Shah had disclosed that he was tasked by Singh to collect money from a person named Omer in Srinagar. He revealed the names of his local and overseas associates — Javed and Khatib from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Farooq Khan from Toronto.

Mohmmad Shareef Shah was also the administrator of a secret WhatsApp group having members from various nations, including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Three persons — S Gurdev Singh from Jammu, Sidhant Sharma from Kathua and Shrief Sartaj from Jammu — were also detained for questioning.