The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India has attached 17 properties belonging to Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in Handwara area of Kupwara district. This is in connection with the Hurriyat terror financing case, in which JKLF commander Yasin Malik is serving a life sentence. The attached properties were ordered by a special NIA court in New Delhi in May.
Watali, who was arrested in 2017 and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is currently facing trial before a special NIA court in Delhi. He was moved out of jail and placed under house arrest due to medical reasons in February this year.
Yasin Malik, terrorist masterminds Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, among others, were also charged in the Hurriyat terror financing case, which was registered by the NIA on May 30, 2017. Malik was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2022.
The NIA spokesperson said that the case relates to terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir carried out by banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), by using the All Party Hurriyat Conference, which was formed in 1993.
According to reports, Watali was a hawala conduit who was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed and transferring it to the Hurriyat leaders to fuel unrest and secessionism in Kashmir. Investigations also revealed that he had received foreign remittances running into crores in his bank accounts from various sources between 2011 and 2013. Watali had also received foreign remittances in his Srinagar-based firm, Trisson International, and unexplained remittances in his NRE accounts.
As per the revenue records, Watali had shown the sale of a plot of land measuring 20 kanals, purportedly owned by his company, Trisson Farms and Constructions, to one Naval Kishore Kapoor, a co-accused in the case. However, investigations found that neither Watali nor the company was the owner of the land.
Watali’s plea against the trial court’s May 2022 order framing charges against him is anticipated to be heard by the Delhi High Court in August.
