2nd Haridwar teacher held in J&K’s ISI-linked hawala probe

Roorkee: In the second arrest from Haridwar in connection with an alleged Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-linked hawala network, a team of the Jammu & Kashmir Police arrested a former teacher on Thursday. The accused, Pooja Banjara, was apprehended nearly 10 days after the arrest of her friend and former colleague, Sonam Parveen, from Kaliyar area of Haridwar district. Banjara has been taken to Kathua on a transit remand for further questioning.

SSP Navneet Singh Bhullar confirmed that Pooja and Sonam were residents of the same village. “The accused was questioned and subsequently arrested. She has been taken by the J&K Police on transit remand for further investigation,” he said.

The arrests stem from an FIR registered at Lakhanpur police station in J&K’s Kathua district. On May 26, a J&K Police team, assisted by local authorities, raided Asafnagar village in Kaliyar and arrested Sonam. Subsequent investigations uncovered links pointing to Pooja.

Pooja and Sonam, both in their mid-20s, were close friends who had worked together at a private school in Haridwar’s Dhanauri area. It is suspected that they were part of a broader network that routed funds, allegedly received from Pakistan-linked handlers, through multiple “mule” bank accounts across India.

Intelligence sources revealed that Sonam originally came into contact with suspects identified as Umer, Adil, and others through Instagram. Their interaction progressed to regular communication via social media platforms and WhatsApp calls, eventually drawing her into the financial network.

According to investigators, the network operated by using compromised bank accounts. Sonam allegedly received SIM cards, ATM cards and bank passbooks via courier parcels to facilitate illicit financial transactions. Cash deposited into her account was then distributed among 20 to 25 different bank accounts across the country. Sources claimed that suspicious transactions worth several crores surfaced.

Investigators alleged that Sonam earned a commission for routing money through various banking channels. She received approximately ₹500 for every transaction of ₹30,000. While transactions worth nearly ₹20 lakh have come under scrutiny so far, multiple enforcement agencies are actively examining bank records, digital communication data, and financial trails to identify other members of the network and trace the origin of the funds.