On Saturday, NIA sleuths raided 6 locations in Delhi for suspected links to funding of terrorists in J&K. Sumit Kumar Singh and Chhavi Bhatia retrace agency's steps...
Manav Arora,
S-Block, GK-II & Khari Baoli (Chandni Chowk)
The residence of Manav Arora, a dry fruits merchant is on the first-floor of this house in GK-II, an upmarket locality in South Delhi. Since Saturday, the house is out-of-bounds for strangers, with strict instructions to the guard to stop any unknown person from entering or making enquiries. That the family is rich can be gauged from the fact that there are at last three luxury cars parked outside the house.
"Sahib lives here with his family," was the only thing that the guard was ready to share.
R Sundar, who lives on the third floor of the building, is more forthcoming. "Manav wasn't home when the raids happened. We happened to see some people entering his house and they were here till about 6 pm. The family is very nice," he said.
After the raids, the NIA team walked out with two cartons of documents and ledgers. The phones and laptops were also confiscated.
Apart from the house, NIA teams also landed up at the Khari Baoli shop, where Arora runs the dry fruits business that he inherited from his father. The business involves importing of dry fruits from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, US, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan for sale in India. The shop hasn't been opened since the raids.
Dharmesh & Nilesh Garg,
Pitampura & Khari Baoli (Chandni Chowk)
Two days after the raids, it was business as usual for the two brothers, one of the most prominent wholesale suppliers of spices to many parts of India, including Kashmir.
Sitting in his office, his watchful eye keeping a tab on his workers unloading the supplies of the day, Dharmesh, an alumnus of Kirori Mal College, recounted the eventful Saturday, praising the NIA team for being "cooperative". "They didn't harass me or my family members at all. They were extremely polite and carried about their work quietly," he said. While denying that he had any link with funding of terror in Kashmir, he said his family had been supplying spices to various parts, including Kashmir, for over five decades.
The NIA had also raided their Pritampura house, taking with them "a briefcase" and boxes containing invoices and other documents.
Among the neighbours, conspiracy theories abound. However, a spice seller, who doesn't wish to be named, said that the timing of the raid was not right for them. "They lost their father two weeks ago and they are still in mourning," the man said.
Ashok Tak
Sector 16, rohini/khari baoli (chandni chowk)
Tak, a Kashmiri Pandit, is a dry fruit trader and is said to be close to separatist-turned-politician Sajjad Lone, a minister in the Mehbooba Mufti government. He has business interests in the Valley.
"They are pleasant people. They have been living here for more than 15 years now. It is unbelievable," said a neighbour. The family is tight-lipped, refusing to meet anyone.
After raiding the house first, the NIA team took Tak and his son, a software engineer, to the shop in Khari Baoli, letting them go only around midnight.
The NIA team stayed the longest at their house and shop, seizing, among other things, Rs 35 lakh in cash, ledgers, laptops and mobile phones.
"Theirs was one of the Kashmiri Pandit families forced to flee from Kashmir when militancy erupted. Let's see what the NIA comes up with," said Ashwini, a relative.
Two days after the raids, Tak's shop was still locked.
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