Pakistan's Seema Haider became 'Preeti' to enter India, asked 'friend' to do UPI for bus ticket

Pakistan national Seema Haider allegedly posed as 'Preeti' when she boarded a bus from Pokhara in Nepal to enter India, India Today reported on Thursday. Seema confidently claimed that she was an Indian national and had an Aadhaar card when she was asked to show an ID card, the manager of the bus service told India Today.

Seema entered India via Nepal along with her four children to be with her lover Sachin Meena, who is based in Greater Noida. Seema came in contact with Sachin on PUBG in 2020. The first time she met Sachin was in Nepal's capital city Kathmandu, where they stayed together for a week from March 10 to March 17.

Also read: From travel plans to 5 Pakistani passports: UP Police decode Seema Haider's India journey

India Today on Wednesday reported that Seema and Sachin had faked their identities while staying at a hotel in Kathmandu in March. The hotel's receptionist told India Today that the couple did not show any ID cards and only noted down their names in the register. But, when the register was checked, their names could not be found. The receptionist said Seema did not disclose she was from Pakistan and added that it could be possible that the couple used fake names while booking the room.

After her first meeting, Seema said she decided to come to India permanently. She again came to Nepal's Kathmandu on May 11 and from there, she took a public transport van to Pokhara. According to her, on May 13, she took a bus and entered India via the Khunwa border in the Siddharthnagar district.  

Also read: Seema Haider's Indian look was carefully planned, may have got training for language skills: Intel sources

Prasanna Gautam, the manager of Shrishti Bus Service told India Today that Seema had booked four tickets. She did not have enough Nepalese currency to pay for the tickets. She then called a friend in India - presumably Sachin - to transfer the balance amount through UPI, Gautam claimed. This 'friend' then paid the remaining 6,000 Nepalese Rupees (roughly Rs 3,750 in Indian currency) through UPI, he added.

Prasanna Gautam also claimed that Seema used the Wi-Fi in his office to talk to her Indian friend about the UPI payment. After that, the ‘friend’ shared the UPI information with him. Seema had paid 12,000 Nepali Rupees to travel from Pokhara to Greater Noida.

Seema has come on the radar of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) for her possible connections with the Pakistan Army and the country's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The UP ATS questioned Seema, Sachin and his father at an undisclosed location in Noida for around six hours on July 17. Seema's ID card, which the ATS has recovered from her, was issued on September 20, 2022. The ATS is probing the delay in obtaining her Pakistani citizenship ID card. The squad is also investigating how she entered India without a visa.

(With inputs from Samarth Srivastava)