On 28th June, the son-in-law of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was arrested in connection with the terror funding trail which the agency is investigating. The NIA had made this arrest in order to uncover the possible flow of money from Pakistan, which is in turn used to fuel terrorism in the valley.
Now the agency is again on the trail of Geelani’s aides after it summoned his elder son Naeem Geelani to New Delhi earlier today for questioning. He though failed to honour the summons as he got admitted into the ICU of a Srinagar hospital due to complaints of chest pain. A Hurriyat spokesperson claimed that Naeem has had a recurring heart problem and had suffered a massive heart attack in 2009.
The NIA has now also reportedly decided to summon Naseem Geelani who is the younger son of Geelani on Wednesday.
This isn’t the only time, the sons of Geelani have had a run in with the law. In October 2016, Naeem who is the elder son was arrested by the Jammu & Kashmir police while he was on route to the residence of his father. Even Naseem the younger son was stopped from entering the residence of the separatist leader.
This whole summon exercise might be a case of the NIA firmly tightening the screws on the veteran Hurriyat leader. On Sunday, the agency had raided the house of a Jammu based advocate named Devinder Singh Behl who is believed to be close to Geelani. The raid was reportedly successful as incriminating documents, financial papers and electronic gadgets were seized from the premises. Behl is accused to have acted as a courier for the funds sent from Pakistan to Geelani’s organisation.
Media reports also claim that out of the 7 Hurriyat leaders arrested on 24th July, Ayaz Akbar and Peer Saifullah are believed to be close associates of Geelani.