Ex-Cong minister Jatinder Singh sent to 5-day police custody in J&K hawala case

A fast track court on Monday sent former Congress minister Jatinder Singh, alias Babu Singh, and his close aide Mohammad Shareef Shah to five-day police remand in a case related to the recent recovery of hawala money meant for subversive activities, officials said.

The court passed the order following an application by deputy superintendent of police at Gandhi Nagar police station, Sachit Sharma, who sought remand of the two accused for a period of 10 days. The court, however, granted police the duo’s custody for five days.

The court directed the investigating officer to hold regular medical checkup of both the accused during the remand period.

The case relates to the recovery of ₹690,000 from Shah’s possession on March 31. Police were acting on inputs that some people were going to receive hawala money in Jammu, when they made the seizure from the 64-year-old from Gandhi Nagar area in Jammu. Hawala is a traditional international money transfer system used primarily to evade traceable dealings.

During the course of interrogation, it was revealed that Shah was tasked by Singh to collect the money.

Singh, who was a minister in the People’s Democratic Party-Congress government in 2002-2005, had been missing since March 31 and was arrested from Kathua district on Friday.

Besides him and Shah, three others have been detained for questioning, police said.

“With the arrest of Singh, we will be able to establish the entire network of hawala money, which had been sent to Jammu to fund and fuel terrorism in the region,” an officer said, seeking anonymity.