SC sets aside bail granted to J&K trader Watali in terror funding case

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File photo of the Supreme Court.

New Delhi, April 2: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the bail granted to Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali by the Delhi High Court in a terror funding case filed against him by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The order setting aside Watali’s bail was passed by a Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar.

Watali is a businessman from Jammu and Kashmir.

The Delhi High Court in September last year had granted bail to Watali, who was arrested for his alleged role in a terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

He has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after his arrest in August 2017.

He could not be released as the Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi High Court’s order granting him bail.

The NIA had raided his premises in June and August 2017, and claimed to have found “highly incriminating material pertaining to the receipt of funds by Watali from foreign sources, and its further distribution to terrorists and separatists in Kashmir Valley for anti-India activities”.

The raids were part of an investigation into the alleged militancy funding by Pakistan-based groups to stoke unrest in the Valley. Kashmir saw widespread violence after the security forces killed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016.

The NIA Special Court had earlier rejected his bail plea, which he challenged in the Delhi High Court.