During searches in February, the NIA had said that it recovered incriminating documents and digital evidence. Letter heads of various terrorist organisations as well as recommendations for admission in Pakistan educational institutions were found
New Delhi: As part of the crackdown on terror funding after the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel on February 14, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday issued notices to Kashmir’s hardline separatists Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Sources in the NIA told MyNation that the premier investigation agency of the nation had called the two on Monday for questioning pertaining to terror funding.
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The hawk Geelani and his fellow separatists Farooq are part of the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) in the Valley and they would be appearing before the NIA at the latter’s New Delhi headquarters.
Sources also told MyNation that they would be questioned with respect to the digital and other evidence of their complicity with terrorists and their involvement in funding them that had been found at their establishments during a raid after the Pulwama attack.
The NIA in February had carried out searches at seven to nine locations in Srinagar in connection with the probe into funding of terror, including the houses of separatists such as Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Ashraf Khan, Masarat Alam, Zaffar Akbar Bhat and Geelani’s son Naseem Geelani.
The CRPF and the local police had cordoned off the premises before the NIA raids.
“During the searches, NIA teams recovered incriminating documents including property papers, financial transactions’ receipts and bank account details. Electronic devices including laptops, e-tablets, mobile phones, pen drives and communication system were also seized. Significantly, letter heads of different terrorist organisations as well as documents relating to recommendations for visa for admission in Pakistan educational institutions were found. A high tech internet communication set up was also recovered from the residence of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq," the NIA said in a statement.
The NIA raid was a follow up after the Centre withdrew the security cover of the separatist leaders.
In an earlier terror funding case from 2018, Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah has already been charge-sheeted along with others, while his son is a key witness in the case.
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