“Terror-funding case” ; ‘Mumbai terror attack mastermind’ gets arrest warrant from Delhi court

Delhi court has issued an arrest summons against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in a Jammu and Kashmir terror-funding associated money laundering case. The non-bailable warrants have been given against Hafiz Saeed, and three co-accused Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, separatist Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Funtoosh, and UAE -based businessman Naval Kishore Kapoor.

The three are presently boarded in Tihar Central Jail. The court mandates were issued while taking notice of a charge sheet recorded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering lawsuit resulting from an NIA probe. The judge also declared a warrant to the representatives of Watali’s company M/s Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd, which has also been ordered as involved in the case.

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Appearing for the ED, Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana told the court that the accused planned a criminal plot to bring out “subversive and secessionist activities” in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed that they set a system of cadres who were financed through Pakistani agencies by hawala dealers, local channels by gathering funds through local donations and that funds have also been obtained from abroad.

The ED had registered a lawsuit based on an NIA probe against Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin, and others for “conspiring to wage war against the government” and inciting turmoil in the Kashmir Valley. The separatist leaders have been blamed for exerting a cut before handing over the money to instigate trouble.

Hafiz Saeed has also been involved in utilizing the assistance of Watali for passing on the money to the separatists and some individuals who were actively gratifying in stone-pelting in various areas of the Kashmir Valley, the ED had said in the charge sheet. The NIA had also named hardline pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, and Javed Ahmad Bhat as accused.