NIA attaches properties of Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin’s sons in Srinagar, Budgam

The house of Syed Ahmad Shakeel and land belonging to Shahid Yousuf were attached by the agency under the provisions of the UAPA.

Srinagar (J&K):In a significant development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached the properties of Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin's two sons in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam and Srinagar districts. The property of Syed Ahmad Shakeel located at Revenue Estate, Nursing Garh, Mohalla Ram Bagh, Srinagar was attached by the agency under the provisions of the UAPA.

Similarly, the agency attached a piece of land in central Kashmir's Budgam district belonging to Salahuddin's other son Shahid Yousuf. "Immoveable Property- Survey No. 1917/1566, 1567 and 1568 located at Revenue Estate, Nursing Garh, Mohalla Ram Bagh, Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir, under the ownership of Syed Ahmad Shakeel (son of Syed Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, a 'listed terrorist' under UA(P) Act, 1967 stands attached under sub-section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 by the Order of Special NIA Court, New Delhi," read the NIA notice pasted outside Shakeel's residence in Srinagar.

Syed Ahmed Shakeel is an accused in NIA Case RC-06/2011/NIA/DLI, it further added. Syed Salahuddin, a resident of Budgam's Soibugh area, is 'US-designated terrorist'. At Budgam, NIA notice reads: "Immovable property, i.e. 02 kanals of land bearing Khewat no. 206, Khata no. 677, located at Revenue Estate, Soibugh under the ownership of Shahid Yousuf (son of Syed Yousuf Shah @ Syed Salahuddin, a listed terrorist under UA(P)Act, 1967 and Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen), an accused in NIA Case RC-06/2011/NIA/DLI, stands attached under sub-section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 by the Order of Special NIA Court. Patiala House, New Delhi."

Meanwhile, NIA in a statement said that both Shahid and Shakeel are lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since their arrest in October 2017 and August 2018. "They were chargesheeted on 20th April 2018 and 20th November 2018, respectively. The duo had been receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father and overground workers of HM," the NIA said.

The statement further read: "Syed Salahuddin, 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 HUM 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."

The agency claimed that "Besides instigating and operationalising militant activities in India, primarily in Kashmir valley, Syed Salahuddin has been raising funds and routing finances to India through trade routes, Hawala channels, and international money transfer channels for furthering the terrorist activities of HM cadres."

It also said that the agency had launched the 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 Jammu and Kashmir 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 NIA. Chargesheets, as well as Supplementary Chargesheets, were filed against eight accused in the case, including in 2011 and 2018."

Pertinently, in August 2022, Salahuddin's another son Syed Abdul Mueed, Manager, Information and Technology at the Department of Industries and Commerce was sacked by the Jammu and Kashmir government under Article 311 of the Constitution which enables the government to sack its employees without an inquiry.

Before Monday's action, Shakeel and Shahid were dismissed from service for allegedly being involved in terror funding in July 2021. While Shakeel was working with SKIMS as a pharmacist, Shahid was in the agriculture department. Interestingly, this is not the first time the agency has attached the property of former militants or their aids.

Last month, the agency attached the property of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Basit Reshi in the Sopore area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district. The agency's action against Reshi came after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)'s declared him, "presently in Pakistan", as designated "Terrorist" under the UAPA.

Similarly, the properties of Bashir Ahmad Pir, a resident of the Babarpora area of Kralpora in the north Kashmir district, was attached by the agency, last month, as part of the action against the militants operating from Pakistan.

In March, this year, the agency had also attached property of IC-814 hijacking accomplice Mushtaq 'Latram' in Srinagar's Nowhatta area. This comes after, the agency had attached the Hurriyat conference office in Srinagar in January this year. The NIA action against Hurriyat came a day after a Delhi court ordered the seizure of the Srinagar office at the city's Rajbagh area.