Court extends custody of three Kashmiri separatists

A court on Friday extended the judicial custody of three Kashmiri separatists arrested on charges of receiving funds from Pakistan to sponsor terror activities and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir till September 27.

During the in-camera proceedings, District Judge Poonam Bambaba extended the custody of Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey and Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate after they were presented before the court on expiry of their 28-day judicial custody.

The court had on Monday also extended the judicial custody of other four Kashmiri separatists -- Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah -- till September 27.

On July 24, the National Investigation Agency had arrested seven key Kashmiri separatists -- Nayeem Khan, Ahmad Shah, Peer Saifullah, Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Hilali Shah and Khandey from Srinagar and Bitta Karate in Delhi.

They were booked on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against India.

Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan. Islam is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.

--IANS

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