Court extends custody of Geelani's son-in-law, others

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today told a Delhi court that it would file a chargesheet against Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law and others within a week in a case of alleged terror-funding in the Kashmir Valley to fuel an unrest.
It told the court that the investigation in the case against Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, popularly known as Altaf Fantoosh, and others was at the concluding stage and that the evidence on record was being summed up.
"The final report in the case will be filed shortly," the NIA is believed to have told the court during an in-chamber proceeding.

The court allowed the agency's plea to extend by a week the judicial custody of eight accused persons -- Fantoosh, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Shahid-ul-Islam, Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali.
The NIA had earlier told the court that it had received information that Hafiz Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and the separatists, including members of the Hurriyat Conference, were acting in connivance with banned outfits like Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Dukhtaran-e- Millat and others to raise and receive funds from inside and abroad through illegal channels, including hawala.
The money was being raised to fund separatist and terrorist activities in restive Jammu and Kashmir, it had said.

The agency had also alleged that the accused were involved in triggering an unrest in Jammu and Kashmir through anti-India demonstrations and bandhs.

Shah was in the custody of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which had put him under preventive detention immediately after Eid earlier this month.
Geelani's close aides, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar and Peer Saifullah, were arrested by the NIA from the Valley.
Shahid-ul-Islam is the spokesman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of JuD, a front of the banned LeT, has been named in the FIR as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference, HM and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.

The houses of those arrested were raided by the NIA sleuths last month.
The raids were a part of the agency's efforts at clamping down on the separatist groups allegedly receiving funds for carrying out subversive activities in the Valley.
The NIA had claimed that it recovered accounts books, Rs two crore in cash and letterheads of banned terror groups, including those of the LeT and HM, during the raids.