(Image source from: Ndtv.com)
The lawyer from Gurugram, who was taken into custody for supposedly spying and sharing information with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, had two bank accounts and made seven trips to Amritsar to receive money, as reported by his lawyer companion, Musharraf, also known as Parvez, who had previously been held by the police. Musharraf mentioned that he befriended the detained lawyer, Rizwan, while interning at the Sohna court in 2022. Afterwards, Musharraf started working in the Nuh court, while Rizwan continued his practice in the Gurugram court. However, both were involved in many legal matters together and also socialized multiple times. Musharraf informed the police that in July, he and Rizwan drove to the Amritsar Wagah border in his vehicle. They visited the Golden Temple, where Rizwan received a bag of cash from a couple of individuals on a two-wheeler, though he couldn’t recognize them. On their way back, they had a car accident in Amritsar, which made them abandon the car and continue their journey by train. Musharraf stated that they returned to Amritsar on August 1 to retrieve the damaged car. He mentioned they spent the night at a hotel in Amritsar, but Rizwan left during the night, saying he would go to get money.
During questioning, it was disclosed that Rizwan went to Amritsar seven times to pick up cash from individuals driving a Scorpio and a Skoda vehicle. Rizwan confessed to gathering Rs 41 lakh in cash, which he passed on to a person named Ajay Arora. It was also uncovered that Rizwan had two bank accounts: one with Punjab National Bank in Tauru and another with IndusInd Bank in Sohna. Officials reported that the Punjab National Bank account had been shut down a few months prior due to surpassing the limit. This indicates that large sums of hawala money were transferred into his account from Pakistani handlers, much of which was allegedly utilized to bolster the terrorist network in Punjab, they added. Musharraf stated he did not know the specific amount of money deposited in Rizwan's accounts.
Investigating authorities discovered questionable transactions on Rizwan's laptop and phone, according to officials. They also mentioned that Musharraf and Rizwan had communicated over the phone shortly before Rizwan's arrest. Musharraf was detained by the Nuh police on the same day but was released four days later when investigators found no evidence linking him to the case. The Nuh Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is looking into the Pakistani spying case, has apprehended three additional individuals from Amritsar—Sandeep Singh alias Gagan, Amandeep Singh, and Jaskaran Singh—who are accused of transferring large sums of money from Pakistani handlers to Rizwan through hawala routes and financing anti-national activities in Punjab. Multiple police teams from Nuh are conducting searches across Punjab related to this case.
