NIA arrests Hurriyat leader Masrat Alam and two other in terror funding case, moves them to Delhi's Tihar jail

Separatist leader and accused ringmaster of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir, Masrat Alam Bhat has been moved to Tihar jail by the NIA in the terror funding case.

Along with him, Kashmiri separatists Shabir Shah and Asiya Andrabi were arrested Tuesday in connection with a terror funding case and produced before a Delhi court which allowed NIA their 10-day custodial interrogation.

The general secretary of All Parties Hurriyat Conference has been shifted to Delhi's Tihar jail on Monday with a team of NIA and Jammu and Kashmir Police from the state prison and will be produced in the Patiala House Court. 

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The case relates to alleged terror funding in the Valley and involves Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind based in Pakistan.

Shah and Andrabi were already in custody in separate cases, while Bhat was brought from Jammu and Kashmir on transit remand where he was lodged in jail for alleged terror activities.

The crackdown on Hurriyat leaders in the valley has dented their activities in the valley.

NIA had filed a charge sheet in January 2018 against Saeed, another terror mastermind Syed Salahuddin and 10 Kashmiri separatists in a case of alleged terror funding and secessionist activities in the valley.

While Shah was in judicial custody in a decade-old money laundering case for alleged terror financing, Andrabi was in jail in a case of allegedly waging a war against the country and delivering hate speeches in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the NIA, Shah had received Rs 10 lakh from hawala operator Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watal, a co-accused in the case.

Besides, the money was also sent to the banned outfit Dukhtaraan-e-Milat of which Andrabi was the chief, NIA said. 

The NIA arrested them before the court and sought their custodial interrogation for 15-days.

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The NIA's submission was opposed by defence advocates who said that the accused were already in custody and the NIA could interrogate them and there was no need of custodial interrogation.

The case in which the accused were arrested Tuesday relates to an alleged conspiracy to wage a war against the government (Section 121 of Indian Penal Code) by carrying out terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The probe agency has chargesheeted 12 persons, including Saeed, and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. 

Other offences for which the accused were chargesheeted include those punishable under sections 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Besides Saeed and Salahuddin, the other 10 accused in the final report are - Hurriyat leader Syed Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, Geelani's personal assistant Bashir Ahmad Bhat, media advisor and strategist of the Hurriyat Conference Aftab Ahmad Shah, secessionist outfit National Front chief Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R) Farooq Ahmad Dar, media advisor of Hurriyat Conference (Geelani faction) Mohammad Akbar Khanday, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat official Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, hawala operator Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watal and two stone-pelters - Kamran Yusuf and Javed Ahmad Bhat.

Taking a synchronous stand of that of Pakistan, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti had called for the 'immediate release' of JKLF chief Yasin Malik citing his deteriorating health.

Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned in March by the Modi government, is also facing two CBI cases. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.

Following the NIA securing JKLF chief Yasin Malik's custody for 12 days, on April 10 he was shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail from Jammu's Kot Balwal jail where he had been lodged last month. Malik will face questioning related to the terror funding case lodged against him by the NIA.

The NIA also summoned moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the son of pro-Pakistani separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for questioning in Delhi in a terror-financing case, officials said on Saturday, March 9

Pakistan strongly condemns the continuing incarceration and deteriorating health of Yasin Malik since February 22 on trumped up charges, Pakistan's foreign office said in a press release.

(With PTI inputs)