Interrogations of captured Indian Mujahideen (IM) commander, Tehsin Akhtar, has revealed that besides the use of hawala money, the organisation collected funds for their operations through extortion rackets.
‘In 2010, Rs 10 crore was arranged by Amir Reza Khan, an IM operative, who was earlier sheltered earlier by ISI. Amir Reza, currently absconding, collected money for IM through extortion of businessmen in India and Pakistan. Other operatives too had extorted businessmen,’ a highly placed source in Delhi police special cell said.
Speaking to Millennium Post, a senior security establishment officer, on the condition of anonymity confirmed that apart from hawala transactions, IM was using extortion money to execute terror strikes in several part of the country. ISI used to provide hawala money to operatives. However, a cold war began soon after between the ISI and IM.
Earlier if top IM bosses did not follow the instructions of ISI, which were scaled down to terror activities until further orders, ISI would stop funding them. According to sources, the Al Qaeda stepped in grabbed the opportunity to provide safe hide-outs along with hawala money for ammunitions.
Later, Bhatkal brothers (Riyaz and Iqbal) thought of sourcing the money by themselves. In 2009 when the brothers, along with Mohsin Chaudhary, had escaped to Pakistan to evade arrest in India, they came in contact with Amir Reza Khan.
‘Amir Reza continued to collect money for IM through extortion from businessman and received funds worth Rs 10 crore in 2010, when he participated in extortion from Kolkata. This amount was used to execute Varanasi bombing, Pune blast, Chinnaswami stadium blast,’ the source added.
Investigating officers added that they are collecting information about the businessmen who have been extorted by the IM operatives so far. During interrogation with NIA, Yasin Bhatkal also gave clues about the usage of extortion money in their operation. On Tuesday, Tehsin shared detailed information about the extortion racket.
‘In 2010, Rs 10 crore was arranged by Amir Reza Khan, an IM operative, who was earlier sheltered earlier by ISI. Amir Reza, currently absconding, collected money for IM through extortion of businessmen in India and Pakistan. Other operatives too had extorted businessmen,’ a highly placed source in Delhi police special cell said.
Speaking to Millennium Post, a senior security establishment officer, on the condition of anonymity confirmed that apart from hawala transactions, IM was using extortion money to execute terror strikes in several part of the country. ISI used to provide hawala money to operatives. However, a cold war began soon after between the ISI and IM.
Earlier if top IM bosses did not follow the instructions of ISI, which were scaled down to terror activities until further orders, ISI would stop funding them. According to sources, the Al Qaeda stepped in grabbed the opportunity to provide safe hide-outs along with hawala money for ammunitions.
Later, Bhatkal brothers (Riyaz and Iqbal) thought of sourcing the money by themselves. In 2009 when the brothers, along with Mohsin Chaudhary, had escaped to Pakistan to evade arrest in India, they came in contact with Amir Reza Khan.
‘Amir Reza continued to collect money for IM through extortion from businessman and received funds worth Rs 10 crore in 2010, when he participated in extortion from Kolkata. This amount was used to execute Varanasi bombing, Pune blast, Chinnaswami stadium blast,’ the source added.
Investigating officers added that they are collecting information about the businessmen who have been extorted by the IM operatives so far. During interrogation with NIA, Yasin Bhatkal also gave clues about the usage of extortion money in their operation. On Tuesday, Tehsin shared detailed information about the extortion racket.