One WhatsApp message is all it took to convince Angadiya businessman Javed Naviwala, who was arrested Thursday after ATS caught hawala operator Altaf Qureshi, to give Rs 15,000 to suspected Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) operative Aftab Ali, who was held in Uttar Pradesh as part of an espionage racket
Javed Naviwala
ADVERTISEMENT
One WhatsApp message is all it took to convince Angadiya businessman Javed Naviwala, who was arrested Thursday after ATS caught hawala operator Altaf Qureshi, to give Rs 15,000 to suspected Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) operative Aftab Ali, who was held in Uttar Pradesh as part of an espionage racket.
Javed, however, claims he thought he was giving the money to 'charity'.
The WhatsApp message Javed had received said: 'Plz deposit Rs 15,000 in the account number ####'. The account in Vijaya Bank belongs to Aftab, in which two other funds of Rs 25,000 each were also deposited. Investigators are trying to find out details of these two transactions.
On ISI's instructions, Javed had given the money to Altaf to deposit it in Aftab's account. "We have taken the CCTV grab of the bank's branch in Mumbai, which captured Altaf depositing the money," said an officer. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have managed to retrieve the WhatsApp messages from Javed's phone, which will act as strong evidence, an ATS official said. Two mobiles each were recovered from them.
Javed told interrogators that he wanted to give some money to charity. "After some days, a friend of a relative requested him to help a man with Rs 15,000 for some medical needs. He claims he did not know the real purpose behind the transfer of funds," said a senior ATS officer. ATS is not buying his stories. State ATS officials said Altaf and Javed are originally from Rajkot, Gujarat.
ATS sources said Javed was a key financer of the faction being handled by ISI. He employed Altaf since they have a few common relatives.
While Javed has been on the radar of security agencies since 2009 because of his suspected hawala links in past terror cases, he was been keenly watched over the last two months in connection with the present ISI case.
Javed was allegedly receiving phone calls from people in Pakistan. He claims that they are friends of his relatives. He was in touch with the Pakistani people, suspected to be ISI handlers, through phone calls, WhatsApp and other applications.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
