Srinagar man arrested for receiving funds from Pakistan

New Delhi, May 3: The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a resident of Srinagar who allegedly received a sum of Rs 18 crore from Pakistan and foreign based individuals.

As of now, it is not confirmed whether he was working for ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) or involved in espionage for Pakistan. Special Cell officials were not available for comment on the matter.

The accused, Asif Shafi Ahangar (38), a resident of Srinagar, was recently jointly interrogated by officials of RAW and IB, Indian intelligence agencies.

He was arrested on April 5 in connection with providing a mule account and cheating a Jamia resident of Rs 86,12,083.

An FIR (first information report) in this regard was registered by the Special Cell of Delhi Police after receiving a complaint from Faiz Ahmad, a resident of Jamia Nagar in Delhi.

Faiz was contacted by Anne Fan alias Anita and Kevin Fan, both claiming to be citizens of Singapore and employees of the World Gold Council, for online gold trading through the website https://www.malaber.com.

The accused lured and duped the victim through a fake online gold trading scheme.

They also sent the victim pictures from their Goa trip and asked him to praise them on social media and write about their trip.

“They also shared a photograph of Laxmi Building in Mumbai, claiming it to be the World Gold Council office. They also shared the website malaber.com, where one can browse and check details about trading and business products, which gave me confidence,” the victim told police.

Convinced by them, the victim started online gold trading. He was provided with an online account and a wallet to withdraw, add, or transfer money.

Initially, he was given a profit of Rs 2 lakh, which further lured him. He was then persuaded to opt for a VIP5 membership, for which he paid Rs 30 lakh.

In total, the victim deposited Rs 86,12,083. Later, the accused stopped responding to his calls and messages.

The accused also shut down the website for a day and later restarted it.

Police registered a case and launched an investigation, which led to the arrest of Asif Shafi Ahangar. An amount of Rs 3 lakh from the cheated money was found deposited in his account.

“He was asked to join the investigation but was later arrested from the Lajpat Nagar area of Delhi,” a source said.

During the course of investigation, police found that he had received Rs 14 crore from Pakistan and foreign based individuals.

His two aides are on the run.

The Special Cell is currently probing the matter, and officials remain tight-lipped.