Srinagar, Oct 20: National Investigation Agency filed a 14000 pages chargesheet against ten accused persons in Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) Narco-militancy Case in NIA Special Court at Mohali, Punjab on Tuesday.
In a statement the chargesheet has been filed u/s 120B, 419, 471, 489C of IPC, sections 8, 21, 23, 12 24, 25, 27, 27A, 29 & 31 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, sections 17, 18, 20, 38 and 40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and section 12(1)(b) of Indian Passports Act against the following accused persons— Hilal Ahmed Shergojri, 35 years, r/o dist- Pulwama (J&K) (Arrested) Bikram Singh, 27 years r/o dist- Amritsar (Arrested), Maninder Singh, 22 years, r/o dist- Amritsar (Arrested), Ranjit Singh, 42 years, r/o dist- Gurdaspur (Arrested), Jaswant Singh, 25 years r/o dist- Gurdaspur (Arrested), Ranjit Singh, 41 years r/o dist- Amritsar (Arrested), Gagandeep Singh, 27 years r/o dist- Amritsar (Arrested), Iqbal Singh,24 years, r/o dist- Amritsar (Absconding), Zafar Hussain Bhat, 52 years, r/o dist.- Anantnag (J&K), Presently in Pakistan (Absconding), Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, r/o dist- Pulwama (J&K) (Killed).
“This case arose out of PS Sadar Amritsar Case no. 135 dated 25.04.2020 pertaining to arrest of one Hilal Ahmed Shergojri and recovery of Rs. 29 Lacs from his possession, by Punjab Police on 25.04.2020. NIA took up the investigation of the case on 08.05.2020,” the statement sent to KNO said.
It said that during investigation by NIA, it emerged that accused Hilal, who had come to Amritsar to collect the amount of Rs 29 Lacs, was a member of proscribed militant organization Hizb-ul –Mujahideen (HM) and a close associate of Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, the then HM commander of Kashmir Valley. “This led to busting of a major Narco-militancy module involved in smuggling and selling of Heroin in India and channelizing of drug-proceeds to Pakistan through hawala and to the HM militants based in J&K,” the statement said adding that, “Investigation also unearthed the conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based HM commanders and their associates and militant gangs in Punjab to support and augment the terror infrastructure of HM in India by raising money through drug smuggling/drug peddling. During investigation, it emerged that the accused had received at least six (06) consignments of heroin through Attari Indo-Pakistan Border in the garb of importing Rock Salt granules from Pakistan. Of these, money proceeds of five (05) consignments were partly sent back to Pakistan through hawala operators while a substantial portion was channelized to HM militants in Kashmir through a network of OGWs and other associates. In July 2019, 6th consignment of around 532 Kgs of heroin was seized at Attari Border and a separate case was registered, which was investigated and charge-sheeted by NIA.”
He said during investigation, NIA carried out searches at 15 locations belonging to the suspects and accused in Punjab, Haryana and J&K. “So far, INR 98.5 lacs, 8 vehicles and 3 Kgs of heroin have been seized from the accused and investments worth many crores have been identified,” the statement said, adding that during searches, incriminating documents related to benami properties and digital gadgets including mobile phones, pen drives and laptops were seized and forensically examined. “Many incriminating chats between accused persons have been recovered from the seized digital devices,” the NIA statement said, adding that the further investigation in the case is continued—(KNO)
