NIA gets custody of Separatist leader Yasin Malik; will question him on terror funding

Following the NIA securing JKLF chief Yasin Malik's custody for 12 days, on Wednesday he was shifted to Delhi's Tihar Jail from Jammu's Kot Balwal jail where he had been lodged last month. Malik will face questioning related to the terror funding case lodged against him by the NIA.

The NIA's probe is seeking to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the pelting of stones at security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments. It had approached a special court in Jammu seeking Malik's remand for custodial interrogation in the terror-funding case.

The separatist leader was booked under sections 120B/121A of the IPC and sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and was lodged in Jammu's Kot Balwal jail in March.

Separatist leader Malik is facing charges of kidnapping and murder for being allegedly being involved in abducting Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989 and killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in the early 1990s. His organisation, the JKLF was also banned after his arrest.

READ: EXCLUSIVE: From Yasin Malik To Dynastic Politics Of PDP & NC, Sajad Lone Lays Bare The Socio-political Atmosphere Of Jammu And Kashmir 

However, leaders from the two main regional parties in the state - the NC and the PDP - have termed his arrest as an election gimmick.

NC leader Omar Abdullah took to Twitter to say:

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, whose sister Malik is accused of having kidnapped, said:

On Monday, another separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, had also been summoned by the NIA, after having thrice defied similar summons citing "conditions of hostility". This time he has travelled to the capital and is being questioned by the NIA in connection with terror-funding cases from 2007 and 2017.

READ: NIA Questions Hurriyat Leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq In Terror Funding Case, For Second Day