NIA to file chargesheet against Hurriyat leaders in terror funding case by mid-January

The NIA is ready with its charge sheet against Hurriyat leaders in the Kashmir terror funding case. The NIA had lodged FIRs against them after India Today aired a sting operation exposing these separatist leaders.

Nine months after India Today aired the sting operation that caught top Hurriyat leaders admitting to fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley for financial benefits from across the border, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to file its charge sheet this month.
The charge sheet in the Kashmir “terror funding” case will be filed in the Patiala House NIA Special court before mid January. The agency has already moved Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for clearance.
The charge sheet will be filed against seven accused including senior Hurriyat (G) leader Nayeem Khan and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bita Karate of the JKLF. The others include Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s close aide Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid Ul Islam, SAS Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Altaf Fantosh, the spokesperson for Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal .
These accused have been charged with funding terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir and indulging in anti-national and subversive activities in the Valley. They will be charged under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA Act of 1967) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 121 Waging, or attempting to wage war against the state and Section 120 B entering into criminal conspiracy.
The main charge sheet prepared by the NIA contains close to 50 pages. The annexure attached to the charge sheet, however, may run into nearly 8,000 pages, a source working on the case said.
The NIA had lodged FIR in the case on May 30 last year after the sting operation was aired by India Today. The agency had then said that FIR was against the separatist and secessionist leaders, including the members of the Hurriyat Conference.
The Hurriyat members were suspected to have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organizations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Dukhtarane Millat, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and other terrorist organizations for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala for funding separatist and terrorist activities and for causing disruption in Kashmir Valley by orchestrating pelting of stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.
FIR had said, “Credible information received by Central government that Hafiz Saeed Amir of hurriyat conference has been acting in connivance with HM, LET and other terror organisation were raising and receiving money through various illegal and hawala channels for funding separatist and terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The counter-terror probe agency launched a preliminary enquiry and raided multiple locations in Delhi, Haryana and Jammu Kashmir in connection with the “terror funding case” recovering Rs 1.25 crore from Srinagar and Rs 35 lakh from Delhi.