A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to question Kashmiri separatist leaders Shabir Shah, Masrat Alam Bhat and Asiya Andrabi till June 14 in connection with a terror funding case.
During in-chamber proceedings, Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Syal sent the three to 10-day NIA custody.
Masrat Alam Bhat was brought to Delhi from a prison in Jammu and Kashmir while Shah and Andrabi were brought from Tihar Jail where they are held in connection with different cases.
Their custody was sought for interrogation in connection with a terror funding case which the NIA registered in May 2017 after violence erupted in the Kashmir Valley.
According to informed sources, the NIA told the court that the custodial interrogation of the three was required to confront them with various transactions.
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The NIA told the court that their custody would help them to unearth the entire conspiracy.
So far, the agency has arrested several separatist leaders including Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah.
Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan.
Shahid-ul-Islam is Farooq Dar's aide and Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat. Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali was arrested in August 2017.
Asiya Andrabi -- chief of the banned Dukhtaran-e-Millat, a separatist organisation -- has been accused of waging war and delivering hate speeches in Jammu and Kashmir. She was arrested on July 6 last year.
The NIA had on January 18, 2018 filed a chargesheet against 12 persons including Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in connection with the terror funding case.
Later the agency filed supplementary chargesheet against other various accused including Kashmiri businessman Watali and Dubai-based buinsessman Naval Kishore Kapoor.
In a separate case, Shabir Shah was undergoing judicial custody in Tihar Jail after he was arrested on July 25, 2017 on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2005 when the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Hawala dealer Aslam Wani.
--IANS
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