The Bihar police have recovered six bank passbooks, seven mobile phones, some bank debit cards and gold ornaments from the house at Panjimogaru on the outskirts of Mangalore of a couple who were arrested on Tuesday for alleged illegal transfer of funds to some “suspicious persons,” a Bihar police official said.
There have been transactions of Rs. 5 crore in one year from Ayesha Bano’s bank accounts and the police would probe transactions made through these accounts, the officer said.
However, Bano and her husband Zubaid, when produced before a magistrate here on Wednesday, said they were arrested on Monday. The magistrate granted transit remand to enable the police to take custody of them and take them to Bihar.
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They were booked under Sections 17 (raising funds for terrorist act) 18 (b) (recruiting persons for terrorist act), 21 (holding proceeds of terrorism), 38 (membership of terrorist organisation) and 40 (raising funds for terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. They have also been charged under Section 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using genuine a forged document) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Bihar police said Gopal Kumar Goyal, Pavan Kumar, Bikash Kumar and Ganesh Prasad of Lakhisarai in Bihar, who were arrested on November 7, had told the police about depositing money in some nationalised bank accounts held in the name of Ms. Bano.
The woman and her husband, a beedi merchant, withdrew money from their accounts and deposited to some persons involved in suspicious activities.
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The police said the case was not related to arrests made in connection with the blasts at the rally in Patna addressed by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Investigation so far had not revealed any direct connection of the couple with any terror outfit.
Bano, a mother of three children, is a native of Madikeri in Kodagu (Coorg) district. She married Zubaid two decades ago. She reportedly was a Hindu by birth.