Hizbul narco-terror case: NIA recovers Rs 20 lakh during raids in Punjab

The National Investigating Agency (NIA), probing Hizbul Mujahideen narco-terror case, recovered Rs 20 lakh and 120 live cartridges from the house of a suspect during searches in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab on Thursday.

In a statement, a spokesperson of the NIA said the searches were carried out at the premises of suspect Manpreet Singh, of 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 the case.

"The case relates to arrest of Hilal Ahmad Shergojri, an over ground worker (OGW) of the Hizbul and a close associate of Riyaz Naikoo, the then commander of Hizbul, 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,” the NIA statement said.

“The case was re-registered by NIA as RC-23/2020/NIA/DLI dated 08.05.2020 and taken up for investigation. The NIA has filed chargesheets against 11 accused persons in special NIA Court, Mohali in the case," it added.

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 cars as per directions of accused Ranjit Singh and Iqbal Singh.

"Further, Manpreet Singh delivered the drug proceeds to the tune of Rs 35 lakh and weapons to the charge-sheeted accused Bikram Singh alias Vicky, relative of Ranjeet in March 2020,” the statement said.

It further said that during searches conducted on Thursday, Rs 20 lakh (drug proceeds) 130 live 9 mm rounds, 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 were seized from the house of the suspect.

“Further investigation in the case continues,” the statement added.