Srinagar, Apr 24 (KNO): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached the property of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s sons in the Rambagh area of Srinagar and Soibugh area of Budgam in central Kashmir districts, under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act UAPA.
An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the immovable properties of Shahid Yusuf and Syed Ahmed Shakeel, located in the Soibugh Tehsil of district Budgam and Nursing Garh, Mohalla of Rambagh, have been attached under section 33(1) of UA(P) Act.
Both Shahid Yusuf and Syed Ahmed Shakeel are lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since their arrest in October 2017 and August 2018. They were chargesheeted on 20 April 2018 and 20 November 2018 respectively. As per the chargesheet, the duo had been receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father and overground workers of the militant organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.
In Budgam, as per the NIA notice, “Immoveable Property, i.e. 02 kanals of land bearing Khewat no. 206, Khata no. 677, located at Revenue Estate, Soilbugh Tehsil and Distt. Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir, under the ownership of Shahid Yousuf (son of Syed Yousuf Shah @ Syed Salahuddin a listed terrorist under UA(P)Act, 1967 and Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen), an accused in NIA Case RC-06/2011/NIA/DLI, stands attached under sub-section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 by the Order of Special NIA Court. Patiala House, New Delhi.”
In Srinagar, “As per the NIA notice, “Immoveable Property - Survey No. 1917/1566, 1567 and 1568 located at Revenue Estate, Nursing Garh, Mohalla Ram Bagh, Srinagar under the ownership of Syed Ahmad Shakeel (son of Syed Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin), a 'listed terrorist' under UA(P) Act, 1967 stands attached under sub-section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 by the Order of Special NIA Court, New Delhi”.
The official said that Syed Salahuddin, who had fled to Pakistan in 1993, was designated as an individual terrorist by India in October 2020. “He continues to operate from Pakistan, from where he is guiding and instructing HUM cadres as well as activists of UJC, also known as Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC) which is a conglomerate of around 13 Pakistan-based Kashmir-centric terror outfits,” he said.
‘’Besides instigating and operationalising militant activities in India, primarily in the Kashmir Valley, Syed Salahuddin has been raising funds and routing finances to India through trade routes, Hawala channels, and international money transfer channels for furthering the terrorist activities of HM cadres,’’ the official said while quoting the NIA notice.
The NIA launched investigations in November 2011 into the “criminal conspiracy to raise/collect/provide funds to commit terrorist acts and distribute funds among the terror groups and their sympathizers in Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of committing terrorist acts”.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had initially registered a case in January 2011 and the case was subsequently taken over by NIA. Chargesheets as well as Supplementary Chargesheets were filed against eight accused in the case, including in 2011 and 2018.
The NIA has been cracking down on militant funding machinery in a bid to dismantle the militant financing ecosystem operating in Jammu and Kashmir “with the help of individuals based in Pakistan and other countries”.
On Monday, the agency also seized six shops in Awantipora in a case relating to a 2018 attack on CRPF Group Centre at Lethpora, J&K. Some land, including a house, belonging to the father of one of the accused was also attached in the same case in September 2020.
In 2021, NIA attached residential properties belonging to the kin of two accused in the case of the attack on the CRPF Convoy at Lethpora, Pulwama. Another residential property has also been attached by NIA in the case relating to the killing of two brothers – Anil Parihar and Ajit Parihar—(KNO)