While the agency is questioning office bearers of the mosque and going through the account books, residents claimed that the mosque was embroiled in a land dispute case and they were not aware of the LeT links
Chandigarh: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said that a mosque in Palwal district of Haryana, which came under the scrutiny of the agency, was built with the funds from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — one of the largest terror outfit operating in Pakistan.
On October 3, NIA officers conducted a thorough search in the Khulafa-e-Rashideen masjid at Uttawar village. Earlier, on September 26, three men including the Imam of the masjid were arrested for their alleged involvement in a terror-funding case.
While the agency is questioning office bearers of the mosque and going through the account books, residents claimed that the mosque was embroiled in a land dispute case and they were not aware of the LeT links.
The arrested people were identified as Imam Mohammed Salman, Mohammed Salim and Sajjad Abdul Wani and they were taken into custody for allegedly receiving terror funding from an NGO set up by LeT parent organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
LeT was co-founded by Hafiz Saeed, who is also the chief of JuD.
“Salman, who came in touch with LeT associated men when he was in Dubai, had been receiving funds from FIF. The organisation, we have learnt, gave him Rs 70 lakh to build a mosque in Uttawar. It even gave him money for the marriage of his daughters. We are now probing from where the mosque has been receiving its donations and how this money is being used,” said an NIA officer, according to reports.
However, it was not only the villagers who didn’t buy this story, Salman’s cousin also dismissed it. He said that a God-fearing man like Salman will never align with a foreigner like Hafiz Saeed as betraying the nation is a sin in Islam.
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