NEW DELHI, July 2: An aide of Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and a businessman from Kashmir have been questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the funding of terror and separatist groups in the Valley.
The NIA has been questioning Shahid-ul-Islam, a close aide of the Mirwaiz, and businessman Zahoor Watali for last three days about the alleged assets possessed by them, official sources said here.
The questioning of the two by the officers of the Central probe agency, which has registered a case against separatists and terror organisations operating in the Valley, was continuing separately, they said.
The businessman has been asked about his association with the separatists, especially hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the sources said.
The NIA may also seek a production warrant from a special court against close aides of Geelani, including his son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh and his spokesman Ayaz Akbar, they said.
Both were placed under preventive custody by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on June 27 on account of law and order situation in the Valley.
This move by the State police had raised many eyebrows as neither of them had ever been taken into preventive custody during the peak of agitations earlier.
Shah was questioned by the NIA early last month after which he had sought time from the probe agency on account of Holy month of Ramzan and Eid festivities, the sources said.
Shah has been asked by the NIA about his moveable and other properties, including houses in the Valley as well as in Jammu, and the source for their funding, they said, adding that the questioning also related to the alleged funds received by the Geelani-led Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.
Shah’s Srinagar house was raided by NIA sleuths, who also searched the premises of others like Shahid-ul-Islam, an aide of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who heads the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, and businessman Zahoor Watali.
Apart from being the son-in-law of Geelani, Shah is perceived to be influential in the evolving the policies of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court has issued a non- bailable warrant against Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah in an over a decade-old case of money laundering registered against him for alleged terror financing.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma issued the arrest warrant after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court that Shah was repeatedly evading the summons asking him to depose before it and join the investigation.
According to Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta, the matter relates to August 2005 wherein the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested 35-year old Mohammed Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he had passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.
The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.
Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, received through ‘hawala’ channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition on August 26, 2005.
During questioning, he had told the police that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to Jaish-e- Mohammad area commander in Srinagar, Abu Baqar, and the rest was his commission. (PTI)
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