Kanwar Pathrija, who had handed over to Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal the `10 lakh that was used in the July triple blasts last year, had travelled several times to the United Arab Emirates before and after the blasts. Interestingly, Muzaffar Kola is believed to have channelled the money to Pathrija at the instance of IM finance handler Haroon Naik. Officers of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad said they would now initiate the process of extraditing Kola from Dubai.
ATS officials have also recorded the statement of Pathrija’s brother-in-law (whose name has been withheld by the ATS as he is a witness), who handed over Pathrija’s passport and the bank account statements of Pathrija’s Delhi-based firm Shiva Traders. Though not many major transactions reflect in the statement, his frequent visits to Dubai before and after the 13/7 blasts have raised questions.
Pathrija’s passport, issued from Delhi in 2010, is part of the chargesheet filed by the ATS. According to this passport, Pathrija made brief visits to Dubai on February 19, April 9 and April 17 in 2011. Interestingly, he went to Dubai on August 23, a day after Naik was arrested from the Mumbai international airport and was booked in a fake currency case. He returned to Delhi on August 25. Apart from Dubai. Pathrija had also been to Tanzania. Sources in the ATS have said that the investigators are also ascertaining if his visits to Tanzania were of a personal nature or if he went there on some business.
The ATS has named Kola as one of the wanted accused in the chargesheet. Kola, originally from Darb-angha in Bihar, is currently based in Dubai, and the ATS has claimed that Kola asked Pathrija to hand over `10 lakh to one Shivanand in Delhi through the hawala network. Shiva-nand, ATS officers said, was an alias used by Yasin Bhatkal for collecting the money used in the blasts.
“While we have already arrested Pathrija, we will soon initiate the procedure of getting Kola extradited from Dubai. We will be writing to the necessary departments who will further the requests to their counterparts in Dubai,” said a senior ATS
official.