POTA pins down Geelani

The enforcement agencies, led primarily by the income-tax department, raided properties owned by the former Hurriyat chief and his family in the Valley and in New Delhi. He was also booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after raids at nine places.

His son-in-law, Altaf Ahmed ‘Funtoosh’, was also arrested in Srinagar while another son-in-law, Iftekar Ali Geelani, a journalist, was arrested at his South Delhi residence after being booked under the Official Secrets Act though he proclaimed his innocence.

The sleuths alleged that among the messages found on Iftekar’s computer were many on army movements along the J-K border. Similar ‘‘sensitive’’ messages were alleged to have been found on Geelani’s computer in Hyderpora though the Hurriyat leader has not been booked under the Official Secret’s Act.

The IT sleuths claimed to have seized the following items at the Hyderpora house: Rs 10.2 lakh and $ 10,000 in cash; vouchers showing purchase of substantial jewellery; a diamond-encrusted watch, inscribed with ‘from Pakistan government; proof of purchase of two properties in Ravalpora, Srinagar; details of bank accounts and lockers, which are still to be opened; one Tata Sumo and two Ambassador cars, without proof of purchase.

The 73-year old Geelani, accompanied by a cardiologist, was flown in a special plane to Ranchi and moved to the Ranchi jail.

Geelani’s financial transactions, claimed the officials, were being closely tracked by intelligence agencies and last year a Rs 48-lakh payment sent to him by Syed Salahuddin, the Supreme Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, had been detected.

The next breakthrough came on May 25 this year when Imtiyaz Ahmed Bazaz, a Srinagar-based journalist, was booked under POTA. It was his interrogation, alleged the officials, that exposed the fact that Geelani and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi — who went underground today to evade arrest — were being used as conduits for sending funds to militant groups by UK-based Kashmiri expatriate Dr Ayub Thakur. Even bank accounts have been identified, it was claimed.

The dubious role of Thakur, who is President of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, was discussed during a meeting Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani had recently with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in New Delhi.

Now the government is likely to make a formal request to the British government for deportation of Thakur to India. Sources say details of more financial transactions and hawala payments made to militant leaders were under scrunity.

The sleuths could not lay hands on Asiya today but her husband, Qasim Faktu, financial chief of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, had been arrested in January this year.

The Hurriyat Conference has reacted sharply to the development, saying ‘‘the timing, atmosphere and conditions were indicative of a narrow-minded approach and negative mentality of the government’’. It has called for a bandh in the Valley on Tuesday.

Three others have also been arrested. They are Mohammad Rehman Khan and Abdul Karim Bhat in Srinagar and Abdul Rashid Saraf, brother of Mohammad Ashraf Saraf, chief of Hurriyat Conference’s Pakistan chapter, in Baramulla town.

Inspector General of J-K Police, Kashmir Range, K Rajendra told The Indian Express that Geelani had 14 servants who were being paid a monthly salary of Rs 2,000 each besides being given food separately. Suri said Geelani’s wife said the Hyderpora house had been taken on rent but did not reveal how much rent was being paid. ‘‘She said she was being given Rs 25,000 per month for meeting kitchen expenses. Other expenses of household were being met directly by Geelani himself,’’ he said.

Rajendra said as per the initial assessment of income-tax officials, the monthly expenditure at Geelani’s house was more than Rs 1.50 lakh. ‘‘This is not in consonance with the declared annual income of Rs 17,100 — Rs 7100 as pension for being a former MLA and Rs 10,000 as agriculture income,’’ he said.

The house of Ghulam Hassan, another son-in-law of Geelani, was also searched at Dooru in Sopore village. The police also raided the house of Geelani’s driver, Ghulam Mohammad Baba, and seized a tipper, a drilling machine worth Rs 1.30 lakh and documents related to mining contracts. Rajendra said they were looking for Baba.