Court orders release of 9 persons after NIA says no terror

A special court today ordered the release of nine persons arrested in November last year with over Rs 36 crore in old currency notes allegedly linked to terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, after the NIA said it did not find any terror link.
The agency told Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sherawat that there was no evidence to connect the accused with a case lodged earlier against terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin and ten Kashmiri separatists in a case of alleged terror funding and secessionist activities in the valley.
The accused -- Pradeep Chauhan, Bhagwan Singh and Vinod Shreedhar Shetty (all residents of Delhi), Deepak Toprani of Mumbai, Ejajul Hassan of Amroha (UP), Jaswinder Singh of Nagpur and J and K-residents Umar Mushtaq Dar (Pulwama), Shahnawaz Mir (Srinagar) and Majid Yousuf Sofi (Anantnag) -- were then ordered to be released by the scourt.

In its application moved through special public prosecutor and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, the NIA submitted that their crime did not fall in the category of the offences which the agency is mandated to probe and the court may take appropriate actions.
The NIA had in November last year seized over Rs 36 crore in demonetised currency notes, allegedly linked to financing of terror and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, and arrested nine people here.
Seven people were intercepted by an NIA team in Connaught Place area here yesterday as they were carrying 28 cartons filled with demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in four vehicles -- BMW X3, Hyundai Creta SX, Ford EcoSport and BMW X1, the NIA said.

The agency said it got an input about their activities while investigating a case relating to the financing of terror activities in the Kashmir Valley.