A mall in Srinagar among 12 properties worth Rs 15 crore owned by Yasin Maik: NIA

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, July 21: The National Investigation Agency, which is probing the terror funding case in Jammu and Kashmir has zeroed in on various properties possessed by Yasin Malik.

The NIA listed 12 properties belonging to Malik, which are located in Srinagar. The properties, which are also in the name of his relatives is valued at around 15 crore. Among these properties is a mall at Srinagar, NIA officials say.

The National Investigation Agency had recently filed a chargesheet in the terror funding case. In the chargesheet, the agency named Zahoor Watali, a Kashmiri businessman and accused him of channelising the funds through hawala networks.

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Watali had transacted with Malik as well, the chargesheet says. He had got funds from the Pakistan High Commission and Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief, Hafiz Saeed as well, the NIA said.

Malik has without a doubt been one of the notorious players in Kashmir. His cases date back to several decades back and over the years, he has successfully dodged the law, while continuing to propagate in favour of Pakistan.

The cases against him are not ordinary. They range from acts of terror, causing unrest. In fact a 30 year old case, in which he was accused of killing Indian Air Force Officials was also re-opened. His name has cropped up in terror funding cases since 1995. Moreover he is also an accused in the abduction of Mehbooba Mufti's sister.

Malik and the other separatists in the Valley have been accused of diverting funds for their personal gains as well. An NIA official tells OneIndia that while a small part of the funds were set aside to foment terror and unrest in the Valley, a large part of it was diverted into buying properties.

Malik, whose organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre, is also facing two CBI cases.

These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case on May 30, 2017 against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs.

The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in J&K and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR.

Yasin Malik and ten others were chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Terrorist and Disruptive Act. The CBI named Yasin Malik as the main accused in both these cases.

The CBI moved the J&K high court seeking vacation of the stay and also shifting of the proceedings to Jammu. In 2009, the Srinagar bench had granted an interim stay of the trial before the special anti-terror court.

The HC held that the Srinagar bench had no jurisdiction to decide a case that is being tried in a Jammu special court. Justice Gita Mittal further held that the petitions filed by Malik and others at the Srinagar wing could not have been taken up for consideration.

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The JKLF is also responsible for illegal funnelling of funds for fomenting terrorism. The JKLF is actively involved in raising of funds and its distribution to Hurriyat cadres and stone-pelters to fuel unrest in Kashmir Valley as well as for subversive activities.

A total of 37 FIRs have been registered by the J&K Police against JKLF and two cases, including that of murder of IAF personnel, were registered by the CBI.

The organisation was also involved in the kidnapping and killing of Ravindra Mhatre, an Indian diplomat posted the UK, in 1984. A week later, India executed Maqbool Bhat, a JKLF activist, who had been sentenced to death.