NIA raids houses of separatists and owner of car used in Pulwama attack

SRINAGAR: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) raided the homes of separatists in the Valley for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, and searched 11 spots in south Kashmir, including the house of the owner of the vehicle that was used in the February 14 suicide bombing, which killed 40 CRPF troopers.

On Tuesday, NIA teams raided seven places in Srinagar, including the houses of Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in relation to a terror funding case.

The NIA said Wednesday’s raids were in connection to the ongoing investigation in the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy and in a case relating to the “terror funding” of separatists. The terror funding case pertains to allegations that some separatists received funds from Pakistan through hawala channels.

“The houses of Mudassir Ahmad Khan and Sajjad Bhat (both active militants of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and accused in the Pulwama attack) were searched,’’ the spokesman said.

The NIA said separatist leaders — Mohammad Shaban Dar, Shawkat Maulvi and Yasmine Raza — were also raided. “Documents related to terror funding, coded messages and Jihadi literature have been seized...’’

I-T CRACKDOWN

The Income Tax Department unearthed “credible evidence” of alleged terror financing activities in J&K by the head of a prominent organisation. “The head of a prominent organisation allegedly indulging in anti-national activities along with his associates were covered in a sensitive search action by the Income Tax Department today (Wednesday),”the department said in a statement.

Search action has been conducted at four premises in the Valley and three in Delhi, the statement said. “The search action has yielded credible evidence of large scale undisclosed financial transactions carried out in the business of quarrying, hotels etc,” it said.

› Documents related to terror funding, coded messages and jihadi literature have been seized... NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY