NIA engages in 'building up' Jamaat-e-Islami terror funding case; 15 suspects under grilling

By Rajnish Singh
New Delhi [India], September 22 : A month after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out record searches at 61 premises of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) cadres in Jammu and Kashmir's 14 districts in two consecutive days, the Central agency is now engaged in "building up" the case and has been examining nearly 15 suspects in the case.
The JeI suspect is being grilled for the last four-five days at NIA headquarters here in the Lodhi Road area near the Central Government Offices (CGO) complex, an NIA official told ANI.
These suspects are among those JeI cadres whose residential premises were raided by the NIA sleuths during August 8-9 at the 61 locations in Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Anantnag, Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri districts in Jammu and Kashmir in the JeI terror funding case, informed NIA officials.
The official said, "Around 14-15 suspects are being questioned regarding the documents seized from their premises during the raids. They mainly belong to Ganderbal, Bandipora, and Kupwara districts in Kashmir Valley and a few of them are from the Jammu region's Doda and Kishtwar districts."
The official further said that "The JeI suspects will be questioned for at least one more week."
"As we (NIA) are done with searches, the suspects are currently being examined with the documents recovered from their houses. This is just a preliminary examination in the case and We are trying to build up the case further," the official said.
The NIA along with Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had conducted searches at 56 locations on August 8 at 14 districts of Jammu and Kashmir. In continuation of the searches, the NIA sleuths further conducted searches at five more locations on August 9.
The searches included the premises of office bearers of the JeI, its members, and also offices of trusts purportedly run by the proscribed organization. Various incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized from the premises of the suspects.
The JeI is an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) banned the organisation on February 28, 2019.
The case was registered by the NIA on February 5 this year in pursuance to order from the MHA relating to separatist and secessionist activities of JeI even after its proscription.
NIA investigation has so far revealed that the members of JeI have been collecting funds domestically and abroad through donations particularly in the form of Zakat, Mowda, and Bait-ul-Mal purportedly to further charity and other welfare activities but these funds are instead being used for violent and secessionist activities.
The funds raised by JeI are also being channelised to proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and others through well organised networks of JeI cadres, as per the probe.
JeI has also been motivating the impressionable youth of Kashmir and recruiting new members ( Rukuns) in Jammu and Kashmir to participate in disruptive secessionist activities.