NIA attaches assets of Hizbul chief’s 2 sons under UAPA

NEW DELHI: The NIA on Monday attached properties owned by the two terror-accused sons of Hizbul Mujahideen ‘supreme commander’ Syed Salahudeen, in Ram Bagh, Srinagar and Budgam, under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act.
While the Ram Bagh property belongs to Salahudeen’s elder son Syed Ahmed Shakeel, the property in Soibugh tehsil of Budgam district is owned by his brother Shahid Yusuf. Both Shakeel and Shahid were arrested earlier in an NIA case relating to funding of terror in J&K through hawala channel. They are currently lodged in Tihar jail, Delhi.
The two properties were attached under Section 33(1) of UAPA which empowers the court to pass an order attaching all or any of the properties owned by a terror-accused during the period of histrial.
While Shahid was arrested by NIA in October 2017, Shakeel was arrested in August 2018. The case pertains to transfer of funds through hawala channels based abroad, including in Pakistan, to J&K, in a criminal conspiracy hatched by some operatives in India, to fuel and fund secessionist and terrorist activities in J&K.
NIA chargesheeted Shahid on April 20, 2018 and Shakeel on November 20,2018. The duo are charged with receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father Salahudeen — who also heads the United Jihad Council, an umbrella outfit of over a dozen Kashmiri secessionist outfits, and is a designated terrorist under UAPA — and overground workers of Hizbul Mujahideen. Salahudeen fled to Pakistan in 1993 and currently runs his terror operations from there.