Ex-J&K MLA to be grilled by NIA over ‘terror’ links

SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir legislator and leader of regional Awami Itehad Party (AIP) Sheikh Abdur Rashid is likely to be questioned soon by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as Syed Naveed Mushtaq, a top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant outfit, has reportedly told it that he was in touch with him for some time.

The NIA also raided the home of one Javed Ahmed in Jaggarpora village of frontier Kupwara district and seized some documents, a laptop, mobile phone, two pen drives and five bank passbooks, the police sources said.

Syed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu, a former special police officer, was arrested by the J&K police along with his accomplice Asif Ahmed Rather and a local lawyer, Irfan Shafi Mir, in southern Kulgam district on January 11.

Also arrested with them is Davinder Singh who was posted as deputy superintendent of police at the anti-hijacking squad at the Srinagar International Airport, but has since been placed under suspension. The police authorities have also recommended to the government that he may be dismissed from service.

They were travelling in a Hyundai i20 car along the highway connecting J&K’s twin capitals Srinagar and Jammu and were reportedly on their way to Chandigarh.