EXCLUSIVE: Delhi to Dubai & Bangkok: How Pak handlers paid CRPF man Moti Ram Jat for spying

Jat was arrested on May 27 by NIA, which was entrusted with the investigation after Central agencies uncovered that he was allegedly sharing classified information with Pakistani agents. He had been posted with a CRPF battalion in Pahalgam, and was transferred to Delhi just five days before the April 22 terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed.

An examination of Jat’s bank accounts allegedly showed that he received Rs 1.90 lakh between October 2023 and April 2025 from a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO) codenamed Salim Ahmed. According to sources, the money was routed through his and his wife’s accounts through loopholes in legitimate systems — from trade-based money laundering to illegal foreign exchange trading and parallel domestic money transfer networks.

Officials said these channels often operate through small businesses and service providers who are unaware that they are being used as conduits.

Officials said one channel involved international trade in commodities such as clothing, jewellery, seeds and footwear. “After analysing three suspicious transactions in Jat’s account, the NIA found that clothing, especially Pakistan-made suits, from some luxury fashion brands were being supplied to India through small boutique owners in Delhi and Patna,” a senior officer said.

Since India imposed a 200% duty on direct imports from Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack, these goods entered the market through UAE with Dubai-based cargo entities acting as brokers, raising invoices and directing shop owners in India to make payments, the officer said.

“These brokers occasionally directed the shop owners to make small payments ranging from Rs 3,500 to Rs 12,000 to certain individuals on their phone numbers from UPI. These individuals were the targets of espionage activities and the transactions were payments made in lieu of providing confidential official secrets,” the officer said.

Shopkeepers, the probe found, believed they were making legitimate payments for goods.

A probe into six more money transactions in Jat’s accounts revealed another channel that involved forex operations through Indian-origin entities based in Bangkok,who were associates of PIOs.

An NIA official said, “It has been found that PIOs are in touch with several private entities of Indian origin, who are now based in Bangkok. These entities approached tourists randomly and offered attractive rates of foreign exchange for Thai Baht… After obtaining the cash payment in Thai Baht in Bangkok, they use their own Indian bank accounts and bank accounts of their relatives based in India to transfer equivalent amounts in Indian currency to the Indian bank account of tourists which they can access on return.”

Officials said this method bypassed official forex channels while providing cover for espionage-linked transactions.

A third channel uncovered by the agency involved local mobile phone retailers in Delhi and Mumbai, who provide money transfer services through licensed online banking platforms — mainly for migrant and daily-wage workers to transfer money to their hometowns.

“The probe has revealed that the identity of such senders were confirmed through OTPs and payments made using company accounts. However, the local mobile phone retailers providing this service also resort to the parallel activity of transferring money to the recipient using their personal accounts in exchange for cash from the sender,” an official said. “In such cases, there is no provision for recording the identity of the sender.”

According to the NIA, the suspects used this unregulated route at the behest of PIOs to transfer funds to Jat’s account while concealing their identity. “An analysis of three transactions revealed that the suspects used this parallel channel at the behest of PIOs to transfer funds to Jat’s account while keeping their identities secret,” the official said.

In May, NIA teams conducted searches at 15 locations across eight states and recorded statements of multiple individuals who had transferred money into Jat’s accounts.