NIA summons Syed Ali Shah Geelani's younger son in terror funding case

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has issued summons to Hurriyat separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani`s younger son Naseem Geelani, asking him to come to Delhi for questioning in connection with its ongoing probe into terror funding by Pakistan-based terrorist groups to stoke unrest in the Kashmir valley.

Naseem, a professor in Sher-e-Kashmir Agriculture University in Srinagar, has been asked to appear next week before the investigators at the NIA headquarters in south Delhi`s Lodhi Road area.

"We have issued summons to Naseem Geelani. He has been asked to appear at the NIA headquarters next week," an NIA official told IANS.

If Naseem responds to the NIA summons, he would be quizzed for the third time in the case. Earlier, Naseem and his elder brother Naeem, a doctor by profession, were questioned in August twice over a span of a fortnight.

The anti-terror agency, which has been probing terror funding by Kashmiri separatists and have so far arrested half-a-dozen separatists including the S.A.S. Geelani`s son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah, suspects that Naseem was also involved in the terror funding. 

The NIA had registered a number of cases in connection with the terror funding in the Valley against several top separatist leaders in the month of May.

On July 24, the NIA arrested seven separatist leaders on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against India. Those arrested included Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah.

In mid-August, the agency arrested Kashmir`s prominent businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali.

The NIA on September 5 also arrested two alleged stone-pelters -- Javed Ahmad Bhat of Kulgam and Kamran of Pulwama -- in connection with the ongoing probe into the terror funding to keep unrest alive in the Kashmir valley.

On November 7, the agency seized nearly Rs 36.5 crore in demonetised currency and arrested nine persons in connection with the case. Of them, three hail from Jammu and Kashmir, two from Delhi, three from Maharashtra (two from Mumbai and one from Nagpur) and one from Uttar Pradesh.

The total number of arrests in the terror funding case has reached 19.