Hawala accused reveals Thukar link

Eleven years after New Delhi got its first major lead into militant funding from overseas, one of the prime accused has been convicted. The ...

Eleven years after New Delhi got its first major lead into militant funding from overseas, one of the prime accused has been convicted. The accused, Shabuddin Ghauri, has admitted that he made hawala payments on the instructions of London-based Dr Ayub Thukar way back in 1991.

Ghauri has been convicted to two years rigorous imprisonment by a city court. He had earlier served seven years in jail and was released on bail. He admitted to receiving Rs 16.27 lakhs from hawala dealer Shambhu Dyal Sharma. He again made payments to Dr Ashfaque Hussain Lone — the second accused — who has recently been declared a Proclaimed Offender (PO) by the trial court.

Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) counsels Naveen K. Matta and A.K. Panda had alleged that Ghauri was acting as a conduit to supply money to various people, including militant organisations, after receiving it through hawala channels from London-based Dr Ayub Thukar, Canada-based Mushtaq Gillani and G.M. Fai of USA in 1991 in violation of FERA.

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Senior counsel Panda says: ‘‘This is the first case in which complaints about hawala transactions were filed against several persons. This conviction also strengthens our case against the other accused.’’

Of the Rs 16.27 lakh Ghauri received, he transferred Rs 15.30 lakh to co-accused Ashfaq Hussain Lone in J-K. The ED had alleged that the transaction was entirely ‘illegal’ as there was no RBI approval.

Ghauri had also acquired foreign exchange to the tune of US $ 10,000 during his visit to Pakistan in 1991 which he ‘‘sold’’ for Rs 2.20 lakh. The money was paid to Lone.

In March 1991, Delhi police had recovered Rs 50,000 in cash and 23 demand drafts with a total value of Rs 15.50 lakh from the office of Jammat-e-Islami. The drafts were made out in the names of various persons in Srinagar. Investigations led police to Ghauri.

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Ghauri had revealed the names of brothers S.K. Jain and J.K. Jain, who received hawala money from abroad which was disbursed to several persons.

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