Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested five persons on charges of raising funds for Pakistan from Satna district. Balram Singh and Bhagvendra Singh, who had been arrested by ATS in the year 2017 in a similar case, were picked up from different locations in Satna late on Wednesday night by the local crime branch.

Two other accused were identified as Shubham Tiwari and Sunil Singh, while the fifth accused remained unidentified. The arrested accused have been found in possession with 13 Paksitani SIM cards and allegedly used social messenger to communicate with their racket which was spread in others states including Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Police Headquarters Spokesperson Avadhesh Pratap Singh told media persons here on Thursday told those arrested include Sunil Singh, Shubham Tiwari, Bhagvendra Singh besides Balram Singh and one other local man. Balram who was arrested by ATS in connection with terror funding was out on bail. The accused were arrested from different locations on the city.

The accused were running their racket from Satna. Balram was arrested by the ATS in Feb 2017 from Kolgawan area in the district in connection with the terror funding charges. Balram in 2017 was arrested with 12 others from different MP cities and 60 SIM cards, several illegal telephone exchanges and mobile phones in large numbers were recovered from them.

Around seven months ago, Balram was also arrested by police in connection with a loot complaint and was also granted bail in the case. Pictures of the main accused Balram have been found in social media where they are seen posing with posh cars and pricey bikes.

Notably, around seven months ago, Balram was again arrested by police in connection with a loot case and was also granted bail.