J&K terror funding: Arrested Hurriyat leaders laundered money to create unrest in Valley, NIA tells court

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Srinagar: A Delhi court sent all seven Hurriyat leaders, who were arrested on Monday on terror funding charges, to the 10-day custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA). 

The seven arrested were produced before the Delhi's Patiala House Court on Tuesday, which later handed them over to the NIA for further interrogation.

Earlier today, the NIA told the court, while seeking 18-day custody of the Hurriyat leaders, that the arrested Kashmiri separatists laundered money to create unrest in the Valley. 

The arrested separatists included Naeem Khan, Bitta Karate, Altaf Funtus, Ayaz Akbar, T. Saifullah, Meraz Kalwal and Saheed Ul Islam. 

All the accused were brought to the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Delhi yesterday. They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

While six of them were arrested from Srinagar, Bitta Karate was arrested from New Delhi. 

Following the arrests, the separatist leaders called for a Kashmir shutdown on Tuesday. What followed next was the Jammu and Kashmir authorities imposing restrictions in parts of Srinagar to prevent separatist-called protests against the arrest made in a terror funding case.

Meanwhile, separatist leaders — Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who had called for the shutdown, were placed under house arrest in Srinagar, while Yasin Malik was lodged in the Srinagar Central Jail.

India Today quoted sources saying that next course of action would be to send notices to Geelani, Farooq and Malik.

In May this year, the NIA visited Srinagar to probe the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir and questioned several separatist leaders on the issue of raising, collecting and transferring funds via the Hawala route and other channels to fund terror activities in Kashmir.

NIA sleuths specifically questioned separatist leaders Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate and Gazi Javed Baba at that time.

The NIA is said to be probing all aspects of funding to separatist leaders and how they reportedly used these funds to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley.