Some stock deals could have terror link: Government

NEW DELHI: Terrorists may not be investing in stock markets but some suspicious transactions have come to light that could be linked to terrorism, the government told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Replying to a question on whether the government had found evidence of terror groups investing in stock markets, minister of state for home RPN Singh said, "As of now, no specific inputs have been received from the securities market intermediaries that terrorists are investing in share market and stock market. However, there are some suspicious transaction reports ( STRs) suspected to be linked to financing of terrorism."

These, he said, were now being examined by intelligence and investigating agencies.

Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, while addressing the Interpol General Assembly in Rome on November 5, had said that stock markets were emerging as a new mode for terrorists to route their illicit money into the country's economy and leverage it to carry out their nefarious design.

Later, government had contradicted this statement in Parliament saying there were no such inputs as yet.