NIA Registers Preliminary Probe Against Geelani, Team Reaches J&K

Others named by the agency are Naeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias ‘Bitta Karate’, and Gazi Javed Baba.

Kashmiri Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. (Photo: PTI)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 19 May registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against hard-line Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, for alleged involvement in subversive activities and receiving funds from LeT Chief, Hafiz Saeed.

As per the NIA sources, a team led by senior members has already reached Srinagar for further inquiry regarding the funding of the Hurriyat.

The others named in the PE are Naeem Khan, who was seen on television during a sting operation purportedly confessing receipt of funds from Pakistan-based terror groups, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias 'Bitta Karate' and Gazi Javed Baba of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, an NIA spokesman said.

The separatists were receiving funds from Hafiz Saeed, Chief of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), to carry out subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley, including pelting stones at security forces, damaging public property, and burning schools and other government establishments, the spokesman alleged.

The NIA has also taken cognisance of a news item related to the recording of conversations, in regard to funds, between a TV reporter and leaders of separatist groups in the Kashmir Valley, he said.