SC stays bail to Kashmiri bizman

ARGUING AGAINST BAIL GRANTED TO WATALI BY THE DELHI HC, NIA SAID HIS RELEASE WOULD HAMPER THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION INTO THE TERRORFUNDING CASE

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold Delhi high court’s day-old order granting bail to Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in an alleged terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, stopped Watali’s release after the NIA rushed with its appeal before the court.

Arguing for the NIA, attorney general KK Venugopal said it was a serious case requiring the top court’s intervention, and Watali’s release would hamper the ongoing investigation in the terror-funding case against him. He was arrested in August last year.

In its appeal, the NIA said it had recovered a document from Watali’s house in Kashmir in which his accountant had maintained details of the money he received for disbursement to various Hurriyat leaders. Signed by Watali, the note records payments received from the LeT chief, Pakistan High Commission in India and Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Mohammad Yusuf Shah.

Appearing for Watali, a lawyer from Kashmir argued that his client was a 75-year-old businessman and a reading of the police report does not warrant any case cognizable by the NIA. He dared the central agency to bring on record any document to undermine the soundness of the HC judgment. After a brief hearing, the bench posted the matter to September 26.

On Thursday, a bench of the Delhi HC, headed by Justice S Muralidhar, had allowed Watali’s bail plea after observing that nothing had been shown to suggest that his trade was “geared towards funding of terrorist activities.”

Watali was asked to surrender his passport before the trial court and told not to travel abroad without the court’s prior permission.