New Delhi, January 18
A chargesheet was filed today against 12 people by the NIA, including Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin for “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.
The chargesheet also alleged that officials of the Pakistan High Commission here were passing on money through businessman Zahoor Watali, who is in jusicial custody, to separatists.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed the 12,794- page chargesheet, along with annexure, before a designated NIA court here and sought permission to continue its probe related to terror funding in J&K, the agency said in a statement here today.
Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sherawat, after hearing arguments on the charge sheet, posted the matter for January 30 when it will decide on the point of taking cognisance of the document.
The 10 arrested accused urged the court not to take cognisance, citing lack of jurisdiction.
Saeed is accused of using the services of Watali for passing money to separatists and some individuals who were actively indulging in stone-throwing in various areas of the Valley, the NIA said. The agency charged Pakistan-based terrorists Saeed and Salahuddin along with 10 others for criminal conspiracy, sedition, and under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The NIA officials said they had gathered substantial material and technical evidence during the probe. They said 60 locations were raided and 950 incriminating documents seized. There are 300 witnesses in the case.
Besides Saeed, Salahuddin and Watali, the agency has also named separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Shah, alias Altaf Fantoosh, Bashir Ahmad Bhat and photojournalist Kamran Yusuf, who has been identified along with Javed Ahmad Bhat as a stone thrower.
Hurriyat Conference leaders Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar, alias Bitta Karate, Mohammad Akbar Khanday and Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal have also been charged by the agency. All the 10 arrested accused are currently in judicial custody and were produced before the court.
After the NIA filed the documents, the advocates appearing for the jailed accused questioned the jurisdiction of the case. “Why the case is filed here while everything relates to J&K? Cognisance should not be taken,” the defence counsel said.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, opposed the contention of the accused persons, saying that the NIA is a premier agency and has rightly filed the chargesheet in Delhi.
The court, meanwhile, rejected the demand of the accused persons to supply them the chargesheet. “Let me first go through it first and decide on the point of taking cognisance,” the court said.
The agency has charged the Hurriyat leaders with acting under the overall guidance of and instructions from Saeed and Salahuddin and their “Pakistani handlers” and plotting strategies to launch violent protests.
They communicated these to the people in the form of “protest calendars” released through newspapers, social media and religious leaders, it said. These acts aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror and fear in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA alleged. —PTI
‘Hurriyat plotted violent protests’
- The NIA has charged the Hurriyat leaders with acting under the overall guidance of and instructions from Hafiz Saeed and Salahuddin and their “Pakistani handlers” and plotting strategies to launch violent protests
- They communicated these to the people in the form of “protest calendars” released through newspapers, social media and religious leaders, it said. These acts aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror and fear in J&K, the NIA alleged