New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Syed Ahmad Shakeel, one of the sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, while rejecting the bail plea of his other son, Shahid Yusuf, in a terror funding case.
A division bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur denied relief to Yusuf, citing the larger conspiracy outlined by the prosecution. The court observed that Yusuf was allegedly involved in routing terror funds into Jammu and Kashmir via hawala channels and maintained contact with known operatives of the proscribed outfit.
“The nature of the allegations and the evidence on record prima facie establish the appellant’s involvement in the conspiracy,” the court said. Yusuf is also accused of receiving funds from absconding co-accused Aijaz Ahmad Bhat alias Aijaz Maqbool Bhat, with knowledge that the money would be used to advance terrorist activities.
The court also flagged concerns over Yusuf being a flight risk, highlighting that he had previously travelled on a passport bearing a falsified parental identity, which he later destroyed. The bench noted a real possibility of him tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
In contrast, the court granted bail to Shakeel, taking into account his prolonged incarceration of over six years and the lack of certainty over the conclusion of the trial. The court noted that the main allegation against Shakeel pertained to receiving funds, with no evidence of their use in terrorist activities.
Shakeel, a senior lab technician at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Soura, was arrested by the NIA on August 30, 2018, from his Srinagar residence. He was granted bail on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh, along with two sureties of the same amount.
According to the NIA, the case relates to a 2011 terror funding conspiracy involving the transfer of funds from Pakistan-based terrorists to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels, with the help of local operatives in India.
Yusuf, who was arrested in October 2017, was chargesheeted in 2018 for allegedly receiving funds from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen operatives based abroad. Shakeel, meanwhile, was accused of receiving money through Western Union from Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, with his name linked to fundraising for the militant group, including through individuals based in Saudi Arabia.
Syed Salahuddin, who has been designated a “global terrorist” by the United States, is the self-proclaimed commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
