A bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel granted Watali bail upon furnishing a personal bail bond of Rs two lakh with two sureties of a similar amount.
The Delhi High Court Thursday granted bail to Srinagar businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, who was arrested in connection with the NIA’s probe into an alleged terror funding case.
A bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel granted Watali bail and asked him to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs two lakh, with two sureties of a similar amount. Watali had challenged the trial court’s June 8 order rejecting his bail plea.
Watali, arrested on August 17 last year, was chargesheeted by the NIA on January 18 along with Pakistan-based terrorist leaders Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, seven Kashmiri separatist leaders and others for allegedly trying to create unrest in the Kashmir Valley. They were chargesheeted under stringent anti-terror laws for allegedly hatching a conspiracy with Saeed and Salahuddin to wage a war against India to secede Kashmir.
The separatists, who were arrested on July 24, 2017, are Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah.
Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan. Islam is an aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.