The National Investigation Agency on Monday attached 17 properties of businessman Zahoor Watali who is currently in jail on charges of terror funding.
Watali is facing trial before the Special NIA Court in Delhi.
Last year in May, senior separatist and leader of JKLF Yasin Malik was given a life sentence by an NIA court in a similar case.
The NIA in a statement said, Besides Yasin Malik, 17 others including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Amir of Jammat-ud-Dawah and top Commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) and Mohd Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, top Commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, was charge-sheeted in the case, which had been registered suo moto by the NIA on May 30, 2017.
The statement said Malik was convicted of various charges against him, and sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine in May 2022.
"The case relates to terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir carried out by proscribed ISI-backed organisations, such as LeT, JKLF, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) etc,’’ the statement said.
“These outfits were spreading terror and perpetrating violence in the valley by promoting and conducting attacks on civilians and security forces.”
It said 17 properties belonging to Watali in the Handwara area of Kupwara have been attached by the NIA on orders by the Special NIA Court, Patiala House, under section 33(1) of the UA(P) Act on Monday.
"These banned terrorist groups were using the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which was formed in 1993, as a front for carrying out and supporting secessionist activities in Kashmir,” it said.
The NIA said the investigations in the case have revealed that the accused, including the APHC, had entered into a criminal conspiracy and adopted a strategy of instigating the general public to create a charged atmosphere in the Kashmir Valley and to resort to violence also.
It said Watali had been funding to the APHC after raising it from various sources to promote secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir.
It said the NIA investigations have revealed that Watali was a hawala conduit, who was receiving money from Saeed, a 'Specially Designated Global terrorist' of the United States and a 'listed global terrorist' of the UN.
Watali had received foreign remittances into bank accounts running into crores between 2011 and 2013 from various sources, it said.
It said Watali had received foreign remittances in his proprietorship firm named M/s 'Trisson International', Srinagar and unexplained remittances were also found in his NRE Bank accounts."
It said Watali had shown the sale of a plot measuring 20 kanals, purportedly owned by Watali's company, M/s 'Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt. Ltd.' to one Naval Kishore Kapoor, a co-accused in the case.
"However, the investigations found that neither Watali nor his company was the owner of this plot of land in the revenue records,’’ the statement said.
