Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti knew arrested Hizbul Mujahideen militant Naveed Babu and had also spoken to him once, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed in a chargesheet filed in connection with the case related to the arrested former DySP Davinder Singh.
This is for the first time that the name of Mufti has come up in any of the cases being probed by the NIA in J&K.
An NIA official related to the probe said, “The name of the former chief minister has emerged in the case related to arrested DySP Davinder Singh and HM militant Naveed Babu.”
The NIA has filed a supplementary chargesheet against three persons including arrested Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth wing chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who allegedly worked as a financier of Hizbul Mujahideen in connection with the case.
The official said that Mufti knew Hizb’s Naveed Babu and had even spoken to him once. However, the official refused to share more details.
The NIA in its supplementary chargesheet has claimed that Parra was part of the “conspiracy” to raise and transfer funds to Hizbul Mujahideen militants for the procurement of militant hardware and was also a crucial player in sustaining the political-separatist-militant nexus in J&K.
Parra was instrumental in the revival of PDP in south Kashmir, especially in the militancy-affected Pulwama district.
Besides Parra, the NIA has also named two gun runners – Shaheen Ahmad Lone and Tafazul Hussain Parimoo – in connection with the case.
Suspended police officer Singh is currently lodged at Kathua Jail at Hiranagar in Jammu division. He was arrested on January 11 last year from the Jammu-Srinagar highway while transporting two Hizab militants – Naveed Babu and Rafi Ahmad Rather – and a law school dropout, Irfan Shafi Mir, to Jammu. IANS