Kolkata, July 16 (IANS) Sleuths of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), accompanied by personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), on Thursday conducted raids at the residence of a local Trinamool Congress leader and a madrasa in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district in connection with an alleged terror-funding case.

The search operations began in the historic Rameswarpur village under the Hasnabad block of the North 24 Parganas district and targeted the residence of local TMC leader Abdullah Gazi and the Rameswarpur Darul Uloom madrasa.

Investigators suspect that large sums of money from overseas sources were routed into the bank accounts of Abdullah Gazi and his son, purportedly for the expansion and construction of the madrasa.

According to sources, Uttar Pradesh ATS had earlier arrested Abdullah Gazi on the same charges two years ago, and the investigation had remained ongoing. Fresh raids have been launched after investigators reportedly obtained new documents related to the case.

Investigators believe substantial foreign funds were collected in the name of grants for madrasa construction. However, the probe allegedly found that the money was diverted through a network of shell companies instead of being used for its stated purpose.

The ATS suspects that a portion of the funds may have been used for terror financing. By the time the raiding teams reached the residence of Abdullah Gazi, both he and his son were reportedly absconding.

The search operations were still underway at the time of filing this report, with investigators examining documents recovered during the raids at Gazi’s residence.

Meanwhile, three teams of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out parallel searches at a trust, an educational institution and a madrasa linked to businessman Abdus Samad in the Haroa area under the Basirhat subdivision. The ED action followed the detection of large foreign-currency transactions in bank accounts associated with Abdus Samad.

–IANS

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