Chandigarh/Shimla, January 31:A retired Army captain was arrested on Monday for his alleged links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI and hawala agents.
The arrest of ex-armyman Shyam Sunder Guleria comes a few days after two alleged hawala operators — Amrik Singh and Bhagwan Dass — were apprehended by the Himachal Pradesh Ppolice, police sources said.
Guleria, a retired honorary captain, who was arrested from the transit area of the Western Command in Chandigarh, was handed over to the Himachal police for its ongoing probe into possible hawala racket in the northern region, they said.
The Himachal Police said they suspect an “ISI-hawala nexus” operating in various parts of the country through which the Pakistani agency transfers money to its informers in India.
The interrogation of Bhagwan Dass, arrested from Kangra on January 27, has provided vital leads about the possible nexus, ADGP (CID) I. D. Bhandari said in Shimla.
Following clues that Dass, an ex-serviceman and presently working as pharmacist, might have been sending information to the ISI, the CID had put him under surveillance, he said.
“The police observed that Dass regularly visited the Cantonment area. Meanwhile, money was regularly transfered into Dass’s son’s (Rajesh) account in Raxual (Bihar) by a Mandi-based hawala agent,” Bhandari said.
The official said the interrogation of suspected hawala agent, Amrik Singh, revealed that he had transferred money into the accounts of at least ten people through the hawala route.
His brother Avtar Singh was also involved in the racket, he added.
“It has been established beyond doubt that ISI was using hawala route for making payments to its informers,” Bhandari said.
–Agencies