STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s son, Syed Shahid Yousuf, who has been arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a 2011 case of money laundering, has been placed under suspension by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Director Agriculture Syed Altaf Andrabi confirmed to STATE TIMES that under instructions from the Government, he ordered Shahid Yousuf’s suspension following his detention in New Delhi. Shahid Yousuf, a post-graduate in Agriculture, has been working as Agriculture Extension Assistant in his residential village of Soibug.
Andrabi said that any public servant in custody of Police or any other authorised agency for more than 48 hours is automatically deemed under suspension. “Issuing an order is just a formality”, Andrabi said.
Shahid Yousuf had been summoned to NIA headquarters and arrested there. A judicial magistrate has remanded him to NIA custody. Yousuf, 42, was arrested by the NIA in connection with a 2011 terror-funding case for allegedly receiving money from his father, who is currently based in Pakistan.
The NIA alleged that Yousuf used to receive funds through a US-based international wire transfer company from Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, another accused in the case who is absconding and based in Saudi Arabia.
The NIA claimed he had received a total of nearly Rs 4.5 lakh through eight international wire transfers.
The case, registered by the NIA in April 2011, relates to the transfer of money from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels via Delhi, which the agency believed was used in funding terrorism and secessionist activities.
The NIA has filed two charge sheets against six people including G M Bhat, a close aide of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga. All four are in judicial custody.
Two others — Mohammed Maqbool Pandit and Bhat — also named in the charge sheets are absconding. An Interpol Red Corner notice has been issued against them.
Yousuf’s father Mohammed Yusuf Shah — notoriously known as Syed Salahuddin — was declared a specially designated global terrorist by the US Department of State in June.
Besides heading Hizbul Mujahideen, Salahuddin is the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley.
