After clinching evidence pointing to dirty money being pumped in stock exchanges, the government has found that terrorist outfits and bodies have purchased large chunks of land in areas bordering Pakistan.
According to sources, thousands of acres of land have been purchased in Barmer sector of Rajasthan, Attari and Wagah border sides in Punjab and in other districts close to India-Pakistan border by certain elements during the year. The land was sold illegally as the identity of both, the seller and the buyer, remains a mystery. The deal was done through benami transactions.
Intelligence agencies told FE on Wednesday that the entire probe into the issue is being monitored by Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta who has asked the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and the Central Bureau of Investigation to furnish a report on their investigations as soon as possible.
The eye opener was the sale of about two lakh bighas of government land early this year. Intelligence agencies in Punjab told that the Union home ministry had sought information from the three states regarding such deals. Sources confirmed that the Union home minister had also asked intelligence agencies to probe the sale of the government land in Barmer sector of Rajasthan, close to the Indo-Pakistan border. Sources highlighted that one of the plots sold housed a conference hall of the Border Security Force (BSF), situated behind a wire mesh.
Concerned over the possibility that the land has been sold to elements of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI), the Union home ministry has asked the state governments to provide, if they have, clues so that the central agencies could go deep in to the details of the deals and understand the real intentions behind them.
What baffles the authorities most is that the entire land is believed to have been sold within a period of six months.
Intelligence agencies are also probing as to how ISI has been pushing counterfeit currency in to India as part of its plan to destabilise the Indian economy.
Most of the fake currency was limited to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Probe is also on to know as to how the porous Indo-Pakistan border is being used to flush in counterfeit notes despite the presence of Army and Border Security Force personnel.