Govt asks UK consulate to crack down

After years of being stuck at the dead end, North Block has reasons to feel optimistic. For the first time, say officials, they have got enough evidence to put the lid on it. It came late last week with the arrest of Imtiaz Bajaj, a Delhi based insurance claims investigator.

On May 21, investigators stumbled upon his transaction: Berkley Bank in London had transferred Rs 15 lakh to his Delhi account. The money was dispatched by Mercy Universal, a London-based ‘charity organisation’ which had apparently done relief work for quake-affected people of Gujarat.

While Bajaj was arrested on May 25, J&K police subsequently arrested two alleged accomplices Ghulam Hussain and Abid. During investigations, the trio said that this was the second transaction they received from Thokar and the cash was to be split by a leader of Hurriyat leader and a one from Dukhtaran-E-Millad, a pro-Pak, Srinagar-based outfit.

The transaction, say officials, was preceded by a test run by Thokar when he remitted Rs five lakh to Bajaj’s bank account in London. Thokar, who carried out a series of such transactions from January to March this year pushed large amounts to various banks in New Delhi, including Standard Chartered-Grindlays Bank and Development Credit Bank.

Some of the innocuous sounding organisations under the scanner have been identified as Kashmir Study Group, Friends of Kashmir, Rabit-E-Islami, Kashmir American Council, World Association of Muslim Youth and World Kashmir Freedom Movement.

Officials say with Bajaj’s arrest and the ‘‘clinching evidence’’ they have, ‘‘it should not be too difficult to take investigations into Britain.’’