NIA arrests businessman Zahoor Watali for ‘Funding Militants’

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today arrested businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali for allegedly funding militant and separatist activities in the state.
Watali, who is an alleged hawala conduit, was arrested in New Delhi this evening following multiple searches on Wednesday at various locations in Kashmir which belong to Watali’s relatives and employees.
“The NIA today arrested Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in connection with a case pertaining to the funding of terrorist and separatist activities in J&K,” said NIA Inspector General (IG) Alok Mittal.
Watali is being questioned by NIA officials regarding the incriminating financial transaction details and property-related records seized during the searches, Mittal said.
The businessman will be produced before the Special NIA Judge at Patiala House Courts on August 18.
Watali was taken to New Delhi for repeated questioning on separatist fundings in the past two months.
The NIA IG said the searches on Wednesday had unearthed highly incriminating material pertaining to receipt of funds by Watali from foreign sources and their further distribution among militants and separatists in the Kashmir valley for anti-India activities.
He said the NIA had searched Watali’s house in Srinagar on June 3 and seized incriminating documents pertaining to financial transactions and land deals.
“The property documents seized have shown huge amount of cash transactions in sale and purchase,” Mittal said. Zahoor Watali is the first businessman to be arrested by the NIA. On July 24, the NIA had arrested seven separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Fantoosh, for allegedly funding militancy and unrest in Kashmir. The NIA, in June, carried out raids in Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi to probe the entire chain of players who financed secessionist activities, including throwing of stones on security forces, burning of schools and damaging government property.
Watali, who is suspected of acting as a conduit for illegally remitting funds to secessionists, militants and stone-throwers, was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1990, when some anti-national activists were found present at his house in the Bagat Barzulla locality of Srinagar. He was in 2009 accused of encroaching upon land and assault and a corruption case was registered against him at the Parimpora police station in Srinagar. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on June 22, 2016, however, stayed the investigation into the case.

Taken into custody in Delhi
Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali was arrested in New Delhi on Thursday evening following multiple searches in Kashmir on Wednesday
Watali is being questioned by NIA officials regarding the incriminating financial transaction details and property-related records seized during searches
He will be produced before the Special NIA Judge at Patiala House Courts on August 18