The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team deputed to bring the seven Hurriyat leaders arrested on money laundering charges to fund terror in the Kashmir Valley, arrived at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a short while ago.
The arrested Hurriyat leaders are likely to be interrogated before being presented before a Patiala House court on Tuesday.
Tonight's development came even as they were mixed political responses on the NIA's move to arrest the seven Hurriyat leaders for fuelling terror activities in the Kashmir Valley. While some hailed the move, others described it as a tactic to suppress voices being raised against the Centre.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dubbed the arrested Hurriyat leaders as murderers and traitors.
"They will be punished. The law will take its own course. People of Hurriyat are murderers and traitors. They have destroyed Jammu through the support of Pakistan and China. You will get see big Hurriyat leaders behind the bars in future," Ravinder Raina told ANI.
G.A. Mir, Jammu And Kashmir Congress chief, said through the NIA the central government was trying to suppress voices in the valley that were being raised against it.
"If someone is involved in wrongdoing, then action should be taken against them. But the NDA government is using these agencies for their petty politics. Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing the same situation that Gujarat witnessed when Narendra Modi was chief minister of the state. It is a tactic to suppress voices which are being raising against them," Mir told ANI.
Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said, "I would like to congratulate the NIA for taking this decisive step, because these are the people who create all this trouble. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the Centre will not tolerate such anti-national elements. For decades, they have been creating and spreading chaos and disorder with the help of Pakistan," Singh told ANI.
The Deputy Chief Minister also criticized Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for describing such arrests as 'simplistic drama'.
A short while back, six of the seven Hurriyat leaders were airlifted from Srinagar to Delhi by the NIA.
The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The seven separatists include Naeem Khan, Bitta Karate, Altaf Funtus, Ayaz Akbar, T. Saifullah , Meraz Kalwal and Saheed Ul Islam.
Six of them were arrested from Srinagar while Bitta Karate was arrested from New Delhi.
All of seven them will be produced before the Patiala House Court tomorrow.
NIA Inspector General Alok Mital, said "We had registered a terror-funding case related to Jammu and Kashmir on May 30 this year under various sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Thereafter, we conducted wide ranging searches in several cities and collected incriminating documentary and electronic evidence. We have also seized a large amount of cash. Based on the evidence we have collected and subsequent examinations of the persons today, we have arrested seven persons --six from Srinagar and one from Delhi."
He further said that the evidences which have been collected so far clearly prove the financial trail and the direct link between terror activities and its (money laundered) funding.
The NIA visited Srinagar in May to probe the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir, and questioned several separatist leaders on the issue of raising, collecting and transferring funds via the Hawala route and other channels to fund terror activities in Kashmir.
NIA sleuths specifically questioned separatist leaders Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate and Gazi Javed Baba at that time.
The NIA is said to be probing all aspects of funding to separatist leaders and how they reportedly used these funds to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)