Srinagar: National Investigating Agency (NIA) Thursday said that it recovered Rs 20 lakh and 120 lives from the house of a suspect during searches in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab in connection with the Hizbul Mujahideen-Narco militancy case.
In a statement the NIA said that today (04.02.2021), NIA conducted searches in Amritsar District and Gurdaspur District of Punjab at the premises of suspect Manpreet Singh, S/o Satnam Singh, r/o Kala Afghana, Teja Khurd, Batala, District-Amritsar, a close associate of charge-sheeted accused Ranjit Singh alias Cheetah and Iqbal Singh alias Shera in connection with investigation of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) Narco militancy case.
“The case relates to arrest of Hilal Ahmad Shergojri, an Over Ground Worker of HM and a close associate of Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, the then commander of HM who had come to Amritsar to collect the funds to further the militant activities in J&K. Rs. 29 lakhs along with a Tata truck was seized from the accused on 25.04.2020 by Punjab Police. This case was originally registered as case FIR no. 135/20 dated 25.04.2020 at Police Station Sadar, Amritsar City, Punjab, under sections 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20 & 21 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in connection with seizure of Rs. 29 lakhs which were drug proceeds. Subsequently sections 21, 29, 29A & 32 NDPS Act were added during investigation,” the NIA statement said, adding that “The case was re-registered by NIA as RC-23/2020/NIA/DLI dated 08.05.2020 and taken up for investigation. NIA has filed chargesheets against 11 accused persons in Spl. NIA Court, Mohali in the case.”
The statement further said that during investigation, it was revealed that Manpreet Singh a hawala operator, had collected heroin, drug proceeds and weapons and transported them in his i20 and Verna car as per directions of accused Ranjit Singh alias Cheetah and Iqbal Singh alias Shera. “Further, Manpreet Singh delivered the drugs proceeds to the tune of Rs. 35 lacs and weapons to the charge-sheeted accused Bikram Singh alias Vicky, relative of Ranjeet Singh alias Cheeta during the month of March, 2020,” the statement said.
It further said that during searches conducted today, Rs. 20 lacs ( drug proceeds) 130 live rounds of 9 mm, mobile phones, pen drive, one bunch of polythene bags used for packing heroin, one Hyundai Verna car, a two wheeler, documents related to properties, and other incriminating documents have been seized from the house of the suspect. “Further investigation in the case continues,” the statement added.