Mehbooba knew Hizb commander and even spoke to him: NIA
By: Tariq Shah VOV
Srinagar
NIA in its supplementary charge sheet has claimed that Former J&K Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti knew Naveed Babu the Hizb commander arrested along with Davinder Singh and had also spoken to him once.
This is for the first time that the name of Mufti has come up in any of the cases being probed by the NIA in Jammu and Kashmir and she has also got the summons from the ED recently to appear in Delhi office while as she insisted that she can be questioned by video conferencing.
An NIA official has been quoted by IANS saying, “The name of the former Chief Minister has emerged in the case related to arrested DSP Davinder Singh and HM militant Naveed Babu.”
The NIA has filed a supplementary chargesheet against three persons, including arrested Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth wing chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who allegedly worked as a financier for Hizbul Mujahideen in connection with the case.
The official said that Mufti knew Hizbul militant Naveed Babu and had even spoken to him once. However, the official refused to share more details to the news agency IANS.
The NIA in its supplementary charge sheet has claimed that Parra was part of the “conspiracy” to raise and transfer terror funds to Hizbul Mujahideen militants for the procurement of militant hardware and was also a crucial player in sustaining the political-separatist-militant nexus in J&K.
Parra was instrumental in the revival of the PDP in south Kashmir, especially in the militancy-affected Pulwama district.
Besides Parra, the NIA has also named two gun runners Shaheen Ahmad Lone and Tafazul Hussain Parimoo in connection with the case.
Suspended police officer Singh is currently lodged in Kathua jail at Hiranagar in Jammu division. He was arrested by the police on January 11 last year from the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway while transporting two Hizabul militants Naveed Babu and Rafi Ahmad Rather and a law school dropout, Irfan Shafi Mir, to Jammu.
After the arrest of Singh, initial investigations were done by the J&K Police before the case was handed over to the NIA. The police had said that the two militants and the lawyer had planned to travel to Pakistan.
The NIA had earlier claimed that its probe has revealed that the accused were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by Hizabul and Pakistan to commit violent acts and wage war against India.
Mufti had recently skipped an Enforcement Directorate (ED) summon for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe.
With inputs from IANS
