Hizbul chief Salahuddin’s son’s judicial custody extended

Syed Salahuddin (PHOTO: Twitter)


A court on Friday extended till February 5 the judicial custody of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s son Syed Shahid, arrested in a six-year-old terror funding case.

Special Judge O.P. Saini extended the custody after in-camera proceedings.

Shahid, 42, a Jammu and Kashmir government employee, was arrested here on October 24 after he was called for questioning at the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters.

The agency alleged that Shahid was collecting funds from Aijaz Bhat, a Srinagar resident now based in Saudi Arabia and a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, on the direction of his father Salahuddin, who is based in Pakistan.

The money was meant to fund Hizbul Mujahideen’s activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The 2011 terror funding case pertains to money sent through hawala channels by militants based in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to Jammu and Kashmir.

The NIA filed two chargesheets against six accused in 2011. Four — Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, one of the closest aides of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Sidiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmad Dagga — are currently in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.