The National Investigation Agency of India on Thursday claimed to have arrested Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s son Shakeel Yousaf in connection with a 2011 terror funding case, The Hindu reported.
The arrest was made at Srinagar’s Rambagh area in a joint operation conducted by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police personnel, an NIA spokesperson said.
Yousuf, a medical assistant at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, had been questioned several times earlier. He stopped appearing before the NIA after June 30 despite being summoned.
He is allegedly involved in transferring funds using hawala channels from Pakistan to Indian-occupied Kashmir. The agency claimed the funds were being used to finance ‘terrorism and secessionist activities.’
The NIA alleged that Shahid used to receive money through a US-based international wire transfer company from co-accused Aijaz Ahmed Bhatt. Saudi Arabia-based Bhatt is absconding. The agency has filed three charge sheets against seven people till date. A close aide of pro-Pakistan Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani is among them. Salahuddin’s other son Syed Shahid Yousaf was arrested in November, 2017. He remains incarcerated in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
Published in Daily Times, August 31st 2018.
