Delhi Court accepts framing of terror funding charges against 12 accused including Hafeez Saeed, Syed Salahuddin

New Delhi, February 3: A Delhi Court on Friday accepted framing of terror funding charges against 12 accused including Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief Hafeez Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin in a case related to funding of terror activities in the Kashmir Valley.

 

Notably, after taking the cognizance of an NIA charge sheet against 12 accused including Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief Hafeez Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin, Judge Tarun Sahrawat directed the central probe agency to supply the copies of the charge sheet to the accused. Also, the Court listed the matter for 8 March hearing.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 18 January this year taking a step forward filed a charge sheet against 12 accused including LeT Chief Hafeez Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin in a case related to funding of terror activities in the Kashmir Valley. The charge sheet was filed before a court in Delhi, with NIA seeking permission to continue its probe.

NIA officials after filing charge sheet said they gathered substantial material and technical evidence during the probe. They said, 60 locations were raided and 950 incriminating documents seized.

Nearly a dozen people have been arrested including Altaf Ahmad Shah, son-in-law of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others by the probe agency in connection with the case in the past six months. The case was registered by the NIA against separatist leader Nayeem Khan after he confessed in a sting operation that was surface on TV of receiving funds from Pakistan to create unrest in the Kashmir Valley.

After the video surfaced, the NIA registered a preliminary probe against Khan, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Gazi Javed Baba and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R) chairman Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate. Two weeks after the sting operation, the NIA also summoned several Hurriyat leaders, including Khan, Karate, Baba and Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Fantoosh for questioning at its headquarters in New Delhi.

Before registering the case, the NIA raided dozens of locations in Delhi, Haryana and Kashmir in connection with the terror funding case. During these raids, the NIA recovered Rs 1.25 crore in Srinagar and Rs 35 lakh in Delhi. Interestingly, this the first time since the rise of terrorism in Kashmir in the early 1990s, NIA had carried out raids in connection with the funding of separatists.

Importantly, NIA has intensified its efforts in a bid to curb terror funding and subversive activities in the Jammu and Kashmir valley and have arrested many separatists since July last year.