Overview
- Akhtar Hussain Qutubuddin Ahmed was arrested in Mumbai and his brother Adil was detained in Delhi, with police seizing forged BARC IDs, fake passports, Aadhaar and PAN cards, and over ten maps tied by investigators to nuclear weaponry.
- Investigators traced an active Kotak Mahindra Bank account in Akhtar’s name and have formally requested transaction details while working to recover records from several closed accounts.
- Crime Branch sources say the brothers received funds from the United States, Iran and Iraq since the mid‑1990s, with payments reportedly rising from lakhs to crores after 2000–2001.
- Probe findings indicate roughly 40 foreign trips using forged passports, including nearly 20 visits to Iran, about 15 to Saudi Arabia, and additional travel to Russia and Thailand.
- Officials are examining alleged espionage links, with U.S. agencies reportedly assessing photos Akhtar supplied as images of a tourist site rather than an Iranian nuclear facility, while possible ISI connections remain under investigation.