NIA raids J&K businessman in terror case

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday conducted raids here at the residence of a businessman from Jammu and Kashmir for his link to the terror-funding module of Pakistan-based Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a front-end organisation of proscribed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba established by Jamat-ud-Dawa.

The anti-terror agency raided Hilal Ahmed Rather's south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar-based office and house and seized an amount of Rs 18 lakh, six mobile phones along with SIM cards and various incriminating documents, said an official, adding Rather is originally from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. 

The official said the raids were a follow-up of the earlier searches conducted by NIA pertaining to the case in which the NIA has so far arrested three persons identified as Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Salim and Sajjad Ahmad Wani. 

He said the money received from Wani, at the time of his arrest in Jammu and Kashmir, belongs to Rather and this input led the NIA to conduct the raids in Delhi. 

The FIF terror funding module case is being probed by the NIA since July 2 when it filed an FIR under sections of criminal conspiracy of Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 

The NIA said that the arrested accused Salman, a resident of south Delhi's Nizamuddin, was in regular touch with one Dubai-based Pakistani national, who in turn is connected with the Deputy Chief of FIF. 

Salman has been receiving funds, being sent by FIF operators and its associates, through hawala operators to further their activities and create unrest in India and carry out terrorist activities, said the official. 

"Investigation is continuing to unearth the larger conspiracy, collect evidence and arrest the other accused belonging to the FIF which was designated as a terrorist entity by the US in 2010," said the official.