Jammu and Kashmir: NIA attaches properties of Hizbul Mujahideen chief’s sons

NIA attached a house and two kanals of land belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudeen's two sons

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached a house and two kanals of land belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudeen’s two sons in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam and Srinagar districts, officials said.

A team of NIA officials first attached a house in Ram Bagh area here registered in the name of Syed Ahmed Shakeel, son of designated terrorist Salahudeen, they said.

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“The house, registered in the revenue records in the name of Syed Ahmad Shakeel, was attached by the NIA on court orders under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” an NIA official said.

Later, the team went to Soibugh in Budgam district, the ancestral place of one of the most wanted terrorists in India, and attached a plot of agricultural land measuring two kanals (10,880 square feet), the officials said.

The land is registered in the name of Salahudeen’s another son, Shahid Yusuf.

Notice boards announcing the attachments were installed at both the premises by the NIA sleuths.
Besides, the NIA also seized six shops in Awantipora area of Pulwama district in a case relating to a 2018 attack on CRPF Group Centre at Lethpora, J&K.

In a statement, the NIA said it attached two properties of the sons of designated terrorist Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah @ Syed Salahudeen, the self-styled Supreme Commander of Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Chairman of United Jihad Council (UJC).

“The immovable properties of Shahid Yusuf and Syed Ahmed Shakeel, located in Kashmir – in Soibugh Tehsil, Distt. Budgam and Nursing Garh, Mohalla Ram Bagh, have been attached under section 33(1) of UA(P) Act,” the NIA said.

Both Shahid Yusuf and Syed Ahmed Shakeel are lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since their arrests in October 2017 and August 2018. They were chargesheeted on April 20, 2018 and November 20, 2018, respectively. The duo had been receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father and overground workers of HM, it added.

Salahudeen, who had fled to Pakistan in 1993, was designated as an individual terrorist by India in October 2020. He continues to operate from Pakistan, from where he is guiding and instructing Hizbul cadres as well as activists of UJC, also known as Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC) which is a conglomerate of around 13 Pakistan-based Kashmir centric terror outfits.

Besides instigating and operationalising militant activities in India, primarily in Kashmir valley, Salahudeen has been raising funds and routing finances to India through hawala channels and international money transfer channels for furthering the terrorist activities of HM cadres.

The NIA launched investigations in November 2011 into the criminal conspiracy to raise/collect/provide funds to commit terrorist acts and distribute funds among the terror groups and their sympathizers in J&K for the purpose of committing terrorist acts.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had initially registered a case in January 2011 and the case was subsequently taken over by the NIA. Chargesheets as well as supplementary chargesheets were filed against eight accused in the case, including in 2011 and 2018.

The NIA has launched a crackdown on terror funding machinery in a bid to dismantle the terrorist financing ecosystem operating in Jammu and Kashmir with the help of individuals based in Pakistan and other countries.