Why hasn't there been a crackdown on terror funding?Mumbai, Jan 31(AZINS) In the run-up to Republic Day, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed to have busted a 14-member ISIS module in a nationwide crackdown. It acted, it said, on heightened intelligence inputs that the module could strike as India celebrated 67 years of becoming a republic.

"A well-funded network of the ISIS-inspired group, Janood-ul-Khalifae-Hind (JUKH), has emerged as a threat to India," says the NIA's FIR. It underlines, "There's a larger financial nexus involved in the terror module's recruitment process."

Even as another massive manhunt was launched (in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana) to zero in on those allegedly recruited and financed for travel to Syria and join the Islamic state's war, questions are being raised on why authorities haven't cracked down on the terror funding route.

The NIA's application seeking custodial interrogation of those arrested had said, "Using chatting applications to motivate youth to join ISIS may not be cost-intensive since most new recruits are driven by extreme religious ideology."

"But future plans to procure explosives and weapons, identify safe locations for terror training, motivate new recruits to target police officers and foreigners and carry out terrorist activities in India, cannot be done without huge and sustained funding," it added.

Fund source

So where are the funds coming from? "That this funding has links with hawala and cricket betting is, perhaps, this country's worst kept secret," says a senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) official. "As early as March 15 last year, the ED had received a statement from kingpin bookie Mukesh Sharma, who accepted that the entire betting network in India was being controlled by Pakistan's intelligence wing, ISI."

It's a matter of record, he says, that over a lakh access the betting site betfair.com, headquartered in UK, where betting is legal. "Nearly Rs.1,00,000 crore that flows out of India annually, doesn't even reflect on the official servers of the betting company's website. This amounts to a serious loss of revenue to the British government too and so they are keen for India to crack down these illegal operators," he adds.

Ironically, in 2010, the Bombay High Court had ordered the government to block betfair.com. Six years on, it's still running.

The Pakistan angle

So, who is the kingpin behind it all?

"It's Pakistani politician and parliamentarian affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Lal Chand Malhi, who owns the LC group — a Dubai based business house with interests in hotels and real estate. He was elected the member of national assembly in Pakistan's 2013 general election," insists an ED official, on condition of anonymity. "Malhi is known for his connections with the more right-wing elements in the Pakistan army and the extremist Sunni groups who are now regrouping under the ISIS flag."

When contacted over the phone in Islamabad, Malhi laughed. "Even if everything you say is right, nobody can touch me. If I name Indian politicians and cricketers who are my friends, all your political parties will find themselves in trouble."

Like Mukesh Sharma, is Mohammed Afroz Hassan Fatta, the alleged kingpin of the Rs. 20,000 crore Surat hawala racket, with links to the Lakshkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Mujahideen. Fatta, like Malhi, went on record to the ED, Ahmedabad that he was sending money via tax havens to fund terror. "After the arrests of these notorious bookies and hawala operators under the non-bailable Prevention of Money Laundering Act, those powerful people whose monies were involved, were scared they would also be exposed," points out the official.

Silencing truth

The first signs of trouble came on September 23, 2015 when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the Ahmedabad residence of JP Singh, a 2000 batch Indian Revenue Service officer of the customs and excise wing, and also ED joint director. "While the probe yielded nothing, it meant that the entire team looking at match- fixing was transferred. Now, there's no one left to even brief the public prosecutor. Several kingpins like Mukesh Sharma, Ritesh Bansal, Ankush Bansal and Pawan Jaipur who were cooling their heels in jail made bail, while efforts to get hold of other bookies like Anil Jaisinghani who are on the run, have stopped," discloses the official.

But why would a case with such ramifications on national security be allowed to be run aground? Lawyer-activist and former IPS officer, YP Singh guffaws while explaining, "For you and me, national security amounts to sensitivity. For politicians and businessmen using betting and hawala routes to move their black money around, this means something else."

He also blames the ego trips of officials in various investigating agencies. "Each one wants to prove how he and his team are better than others. In this process, the larger picture is given the miss." According to him, the NIA could use Section 91 of the CrPC to ask for the documents from ED and pursue the case.

Investigative silos

That's easier said than done, says counter-terror expert Ajai Sahni who heads Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. Agreeing with YP Singh, he, too, laments the silos that the agencies function in. "All 'glamorous' high-profile cases are given to NIA that only has the mandate to investigate cases that the Centre recommends. And agencies like the ED, DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) with a larger mandate are not given a free hand."

Sahni, who's sharply critical of the government's handling of 26/11, says few lessons have been learnt in the years that followed this terror strike. "I have time and again raised the need for centralising of data by investigating agencies so they can be used to act against criminal and terror groups." He adds, "Currently, more than the actual investigation, agencies like the NIA are used to build and project the brand of the government in power, particularly the home ministry. It goes well with the tough-on-terror narrative, but achieves little in the long-term."

Will the government act?

The senior ED official sums it up perfectly. "The 13 serial blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 used the gold smuggling racket to gain entry. Ajmal Kasab and his gang who laid siege to Mumbai for three days in November 2008, used the diesel smuggling racket as cover. And the drug smuggling racket provided a cover to militants who slipped into the air force station at Pathankot on January 2. So, the government, that's talking tough on terror, will have to walk-the-talk and crack down on terror-funding through cricket betting and hawala." Let's keep our fingers crossed.