As the police continue to look for vital leads into the 13/7 triple blasts in Mumbai, there appears to be few details regarding the money trail that is emerging at the moment.
The police are questioning at least five persons in this regard and it appears that the money for the blasts was channelised from the Gulf for this operation.
The investigators have found some similarities between the Varanasi operation and this case, at least where the money trail is concerned, and nailing this link would help the investigation a great deal.
Four different persons who are involved in counterfeiting of Indian currency are currently under the scanner and their interrogation is likely to spring out some important leads, investigators also point out.
The first link that the police are looking for is whether the absconding members of the Indian Mujahideen and the Students Islamic Movement of India have arranged for the money.
In the Varanasi blasts, the police had found that money had been raised from the Gulf with the help of Asadullah Akthar, a member of the IM, who is absconding ever since the Batla House encounter.
Over the past couple of years, investigators have found that the money coming into India for terror operations have all been from the Gulf and this is an indication that the money route is well channelised.
"Money has been coming in from United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman through various channels. This could be the case in the 13/7 attack too," sources in the investigative agencies add.
Investigators, however, point out that for the 13/7 attacks the money involved was not huge as it was a very small operation compared to the previous ones. Sources say that the terrorists could have spent anything between Rs 20 to 25 thousand for this operation. When one looks at the operation, it becomes clear that not much money was spent for this attack.
The money trail in the recent spate of blasts starting at Bengaluru has been quite different, the police say.
These terrorists have found sympathisers in the Gulf who are ready to give them the money to carry out subversive activities.
T Nasir, the prime accused in the Bengaluru blasts, had adopted this strategy and had raised money through one such sympathiser whose identity is not known till date. The money is either pumped into India through a hawala channel or is arranged to be picked up in India directly, the police say.
The 13/7 investigations have not provided any leads as of now and hence the police are very seriously looking into the money trail in this case.
They expect to find some clues while looking into this angle of the case, sources also point out. The Anti Terrorism Squad has formed a special team to probe various persons involved in the fake currency racket.
The ATS believes that these are the persons who can give vital clues into the money trail which at the end would help nab the suspects. They are looking to find out whether this money was raised through a channel in the Gulf or Bangladesh.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau, however, point out that more often than not they have tracked the money trail to the Gulf while the manpower has been provided by the Bangladesh module. However, in the case of 13/7, investigators say that the foot soldiers were most likely from India itself and the money could have been arranged through their contacts in the Gulf.
Counterfeit currency and a hawala channel will be the two most important angles to be looked into. This would also mean that the police are looking very seriously into the operation of the SIMI module in Kerala.
Sources in the IB say that when it comes to channelising money from the Gulf, the safest route that these terrorists have found is through Kerala. There is a great amount of hawala remittance into this state and hence terrorists have found it easy to pick up the cash for their operations.
However, the police are also not ruling out the possibility of the money being raised internally and hence it is important for them to probe the fake currency operators who have always been a source of support for terror operations in India.
