New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted permission to formally arrest separatist leaders Asiya Andrabi, Masarat Alam and Shabir Shah in connection with a terror funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Saeed.

The trio has been sent to National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody for 10 days.

The three separatists, currently lodged in Tihar jail, faced an investigation conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the NIA.

The probe agency had filed an FIR on May 30, 2017, against the separatists. They were charged with conniving with terrorists of organisations such as Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya, and Shah were already in custody in separate cases while Alam was brought from Jammu and Kashmir on transit remand, advocate MS Khan appearing for the accused told PTI.

The NIA had filed a charge sheet against Saeed in 2018, another terror mastermind Syed Salahuddin and 10 Kashmiri separatists in a case of alleged terror funding and secessionist activities in the Valley. It said that offences for which a charge sheet has been filed include crimes punishable under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The order of NIA custody assumes significance in the wake of the Home Ministry's fresh crackdown on terrorist outfits in the Valley.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry, under the command of Amit Shah, prepared a hit list of top 10 militants.

The list includes names of wanted terrorists such as Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo, Lashkar-e-Taiba district commander Wasim Ahmed alias Osama, and Hizbul’s Ashraf Maulvi.

The ministry also said 102 militants have been killed this year in the Valley and around 286 are still believed to be active.

(With inputs from PTI)