SRINAGAR: A special NIA court in Jammu granted bail to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) youth wing chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Para in a terror conspiracy case on Saturday. Para has been in NIA custody since November 25, 2020, for alleged links with proscribed outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and even got elected as a district development council member in south Kashmir while in custody.
“We have received Para’s bail order and studying the same. An appropriate appeal would be filed after legal counsel,” a top NIA official said.
The investigation agency had earlier said it arrested Para based on the statement of suspended J&K DSP Davinder Singh, who was taken into custody along with HM terrorist Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu on January 11, 2020. Para had also allegedly provided Rs 10 lakh to HM terrorists in 2018 to purchase weapons to carry out terror strikes in J&K during the tenure of Mehbooba Mufti.
Para was among hundreds of politicians and political workers in J&K who were detained/arrested in the run-up to the nullification of Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, which paved the way for the reorganization of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. He was released in February 2020, following which he was kept under house arrest. Para was allowed to move freely only a few months ago when the curbs were lifted.