The sleuths of the Anti-Terrorism Squad claimed to have made a breakthrough in terror racket when they arrested a man from Gorakhpur district for his alleged involvement in sending money through the hawala route to Pakistani handlers, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Dinesh Kumar Singh alias Ajay Kumar Singh alias AK Singh (46) of Gorakhpur, was arrested on Sunday. He was evading arrest for the past three years and carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest, the officials said.

In a statement issued here, the ATS said, "Information was received that on the instructions of Pakistani handlers, some people were using fake documents to open accounts in different banks, duping people to deposit money in those accounts, withdrawing the deposited money and sending it to the Pakistani handlers through the hawala route.

"On March 24, 2018, accused persons Arshad Naeem, Naseem Ahmed, Mukesh Prasad, Musharraf Ansari alias Nikhil Rai alias Dabloo, Sushil Rai alias Ankur Rai and Dayanand Yadav were arrested,” it said.

In this regard, a case was registered on March 25, 2018 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code at the ATS police station in Lucknow and during investigation, Singh's name came to light, it added.

"Accused Dinesh Kumar Singh along with Musharraf used fake documents and his photograph to open accounts in different banks. He used to hand over the accounts to Musharraf, who withdrew money from the accounts and sent it (to Pakistani handlers) through hawala.

"This gang had opened more than 150 accounts using fake documents and carried out transactions worth lakhs of rupees. After withdrawing the money, it was sent to Delhi through other members of the gang and from there it was sent outside (the country) through hawala," the statement said.

"On August 1, Dinesh Kumar Singh was arrested from Gorakhpur by the ATS," it said.

An Aadhaar card, a PAN card, a Delhi Metro card, the registration certificate of a motorcycle, a diary and a purse, among other things, were recovered from him, the ATS said.

"The arrested accused is being presented before a court, and seven days' police remand will be sought for him. During this period, an investigation will be carried out into bank account transactions and people who had helped in opening the bank accounts," the statement said.