Delhi court to take up ED plea for quizzing Geelani's kin

The Patiala House Court is scheduled to take up Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea later today seeking permission to interrogate separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh and two others, Zahoor Watali and Naval Kishore- in connection with a terror-funding case involving 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

In the previous hearing on Friday, the financial investigators had also sought permission to quiz Zahoor Watali, an influential businessman allegedly known to some Pakistani leaders and Kashmiri separatists.

ED's counsel Nitesh Rana had further submitted that the agency wanted to question the accused persons in Tihar Jail to confront them with some documents and fresh evidence of money-laundering.

Special Public Prosecutor for ED, Advocate Nitesh Rana, sought permission to quiz all the three accused to unearth the conspiracy of alleged financial transactions and also to record their statements to proceed further.

The ED has alleged that Watali is known to Naval Kishore Kapoor, who was a UAE-based businessman. All three have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with others, in the case.

All three have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with others, in the case. Fantoosh, Watali and Naval Kapoor were arrested by NIA in the terror-funding case and are currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

ED had filed a case on the basis of an FIR lodged by NIA accusing some separatist leaders of Kashmir, and Pakistan-based conspirators Hafiz Syed and Syed Salahuddin of conspiring to wage a war against India and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.

The NIA had carried out searches last month at seven locations of separatists in Kashmir, including that of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in connection with the case.

The agency claimed to have recovered several incriminating documents, including letterheads of different terrorist organisations as well as high-end communication systems, while carrying out the raid.

During the searches, the teams also recovered electronic devices including laptops, e-tablets, mobile phones, pen drives, communication system and DVRs.