New Delhi, Apr 16: The trial against a close aide of Hurriyat (G) leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and three others for allegedly running a Hawala racket to fund Hizbul Mujahideen in J&K could not begin today as no prosecution witness appeared in the court.
 The failure of prosecution witnesses to appear before the court forced District Judge (DJ) H S Sharma to defer the commencement of trial to Tuesday.
 The court on March 3 had framed charges against Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, alleged to be a close aide of Geelani, Muhammad Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year had filed chargesheet against the four accused, indicting them for procuring over Rs 4.57 crore from Pakistan through Hawala channels within three years after 2008 for funding the militant activities in the Valley.
 The Special Cell of Delhi Police, on January 22 last year, had arrested Srinagar-based lawyer Bhat, Ganai, Liloo and Dagga from Jammu and Kashmir on a tip-off that they were carrying Hawala money, allegedly meant for the militant outfit. It had also recovered Rs 21.20 lakh from them.
 The case was later handed over to the NIA and during the probe, the NIA as well as the police had questioned Geelani, who had reportedly told the investigators that he was receiving funds from various sources, but had no links with Bhat in the Hawala dealings.
 The NIA had said that funds through Hawala channels were being sent to Jammu and Kashmir for funding militant acts there and Pakistan-based Maqbool Pandit, a member of Hizbul Mujahideen and Aizaz Maqbool Bhat, presently in Saudi Arabia, were the key accused behind it.
 The NIA in its charge sheet had alleged that huge funds were collected at various places in Delhi and one of the accused, Muhammad Sidiq Ganai was in touch with ISI operatives Major Iqbal, an accused charge-sheeted for carrying out various strikes including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and Col Abdullah, for generating fund.
 The NIA had analysed "intercepted call records" of various accused, based in Delhi as well as in Pakistan.
 It had said that Ganai, identified as an active member of People's League, a constituent of Hurriyat led by Geelani, had gone to Pakistan in 1998 through Wagah border on Indian travel document and returned via Nepal on a Pakistani passport.
 Detailing their modus operandi, the NIA had said Ganai developed a close relationship with Delhi-based Raj Kumar and his brother-in-law Rajeev Nankani and motivated them to collect money on their behalf from Hawala operatives here.
 "Between November 2008 to October 2010 Raj Kumar alone collected Rs 2.25 crore in various installments from Hawala operators here," the charge sheet had said.   

Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST