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SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached 17 properties belonging to Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in Handwara area of Kupwara district in connection with the Hurriyat terror funding case, in which JKLF commander Yasin Malik is serving life sentence. The properties were attached following an order by a special NIA court in New Delhi in May.
Watali, who was arrested in the case in 2017 and booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is currently facing trial before a special NIA court in Delhi. He was moved out of jail and placed under house arrest on medical grounds in February this year.
Besides Yasin Malik, 17 others, including Pakistan based terrorist masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin, were chargesheeted in the case, registered by the NIA on May 30, 2017. Malik was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2022.
A spokesperson of the NIA said the case related to terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir carried out by banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), by using the All Party Hurriyat Conference, formed in 1993, as a front.
According to the NIA spokesperson, Watali was a hawala conduit, who was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed — the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai terror strike, and designated as a “global terrorist” by the US and the UN — and transferring it to the Hurriyat leaders to fuel unrest and secessionism in Kashmir.
Investigations revealed that Watali had received foreign remittances running into crores in his bank accounts from various sources between 2011 and 2013. Besides, he had received foreign remittances in his Srinagar-based firm, Trisson International, and also unexplained remittances in his NRE (non-resident external) accounts (where NRIs can deposit their income earned in a foreign country in rupee denomination in a bank in India).
Watali had shown the sale of a plot of land measuring 20 kanals, purportedly owned by his company, Trisson Farms and Constructions, to one Naval Kishore Kapoor, a co-accused in the case. However, revenue records revealed that neither Watali nor the company was the owner of the land.
Watali’s plea challenging the trial court’s May 2022 order framing charges against him is expected to be taken up by the Delhi high court in August.
Watali, who was arrested in the case in 2017 and booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is currently facing trial before a special NIA court in Delhi. He was moved out of jail and placed under house arrest on medical grounds in February this year.
Besides Yasin Malik, 17 others, including Pakistan based terrorist masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin, were chargesheeted in the case, registered by the NIA on May 30, 2017. Malik was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2022.
A spokesperson of the NIA said the case related to terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir carried out by banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), by using the All Party Hurriyat Conference, formed in 1993, as a front.
According to the NIA spokesperson, Watali was a hawala conduit, who was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed — the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai terror strike, and designated as a “global terrorist” by the US and the UN — and transferring it to the Hurriyat leaders to fuel unrest and secessionism in Kashmir.
Investigations revealed that Watali had received foreign remittances running into crores in his bank accounts from various sources between 2011 and 2013. Besides, he had received foreign remittances in his Srinagar-based firm, Trisson International, and also unexplained remittances in his NRE (non-resident external) accounts (where NRIs can deposit their income earned in a foreign country in rupee denomination in a bank in India).
Watali had shown the sale of a plot of land measuring 20 kanals, purportedly owned by his company, Trisson Farms and Constructions, to one Naval Kishore Kapoor, a co-accused in the case. However, revenue records revealed that neither Watali nor the company was the owner of the land.
Watali’s plea challenging the trial court’s May 2022 order framing charges against him is expected to be taken up by the Delhi high court in August.
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