BHOPAL: Pakistani handlers used money from a scam targeted at people residing in south and western India to fund spying on India’s strategic interests and installations, the ongoing probe into the recently busted ISI-guided suspected spying funding racket in Madhya Pradesh has revealed.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of MP Police (ATS) has found about 10-15 individuals (including women) in Maharashtra and Karnataka, who were duped by callers (trained by Pakistani handlers) to transfer money into bank accounts in Rewa, Satna, Indore and other districts of MP.
Tracking the money trail of over two dozen bank accounts which were used to park the alleged fraud money in Satna, Rewa, Indore and other districts of MP, the investigators reached out to 10-15 individuals who were duped to transfer money into these accounts on the pretext of claiming big money lottery prizes. The investigators have already recorded the statements of the victims, who are mostly based in west and south India.
“Luring these individuals via phone lottery fraud, the callers convinced them to transfer money into select bank accounts in parts of MP for getting big prize money. Once parked the alleged fraud money was withdrawn by Indian operatives managing these accounts for their Pak handlers in MP and transferred to other operatives of the racket as guided by Pak handlers,” sources privy to the investigation said.
Investigations have also revealed that the mastermind of the racket, 30-year-old Balram Singh (a native of Satna district of MP) who was arrested by MP ATS from Satna along with Sunil Singh and Shubham in August, used digital wallet systems as well as cash transfer kiosks of various banks to move the money parked in bank accounts in MP.
The new modus operandi of digital transfer is a marked departure from the earlier operation. “The new modus operandi of using digital wallet systems like Paytm or direct cash transfer machines has been used by Balram and his aides to stay away from the eyes of banking mechanisms which keep track of big money transfers,” sources added. Balram was part of two similar rackets busted by MP ATS in 2017 and August 2019.