JKLF chief sent to NIA’s custody till April 22, Mirwaiz debarred from flying back to Sgr

Srinagar: In a dramatic turn of events on Wednesday Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was sent to NIA’s custody till April 22 by a Delhi court while as Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq wasn’t allowed to fly back to Srinagar as his questioning at NIA headquarters continued on the third consecutive day.
Malik, according to sources, was sent to NIA custody in a case related to alleged funding of militant and separatist groups in the state. Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Syal, during in-chamber proceedings, allowed the NIA to question Malik for 12 days.
The NIA on Wednesday arrested Malik, a day after he was shifted to Tihar Jail here from Jammu’s Kot Balwal Jail. The central probe agency’s move followed an order of a special NIA court in Jammu giving it go ahead for Malik’s custodial interrogation, a top official said.
On March 7, Malik was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and put in Jammu jail. Under the PSA, any person can be kept in detention for two years without any judicial intervention.
Malik has been facing two Central Bureau of Investigation cases and his organisation JKLF was banned last month by the Centre. These relate to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in 1989, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat (M) chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq , who was supposed to return back to Srinagar, wasn’t allowed to fly as his questioning continued at the NIA headquarters in Delhi for the third consecutive day.
Sources in Hurriyat Conference (M) said, that Mirwaiz had booked his tickets for Srinagar and was supposed to leave from Delhi at 4 pm. “But NIA sleuths continued to quiz him till late in the evening there by debarring him from flying back to Srinagar,” they said.