Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir’s newly-created State Investigating Agency (SIA) produced a charge sheet against Salvation Movement chairman Zafar Akbar Bhat and seven others for allegedly procuring medical seats in Pakistan for Kashmiri students in lieu of money, which was “partly used to support and fund terrorism and separatism in different ways”.
The charge sheet was produced before the Court of Special Judge designated Court at Srinagar under the NIA Act.
Besides Srinagar-resident Bhat, the charge sheet was produced against Fatima Shah, hailing from Palhalan Baramulla in present Srinagar, Altaf Ahmad Bhat from present Pakistan, Qazi Yasir Reshi from Anantnag, Mohammad Abdullah Shah of Kupwara, Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh from Anantnag, Manzoor Ahmad Shah of Kupwara in present Pakistan and Mohammad Iqbal Mir of Anantnag.
Bhat, Fatima, Abdullah, Sabzar and Iqbal have been arrested for being part of the supply chain at one stage or the other, while the investigation with regard to other aspects/suspects (Co Conspirators) is in progress and the facts will be presented before the Court through a supplementary charge sheet, a statement by Police said here.
The three other accused are absconding and evading their arrest. A challan was produced against them under Section 299 CrPC to declare them absconders.
The case was registered in July, 2020 by the Police Station Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) on receipt of information through sources that several unscrupulous persons, including some Hurriyat leaders, were hands-in-glove with some educational consultancies and allegedly selling Pakistan-based MBBS seats and seats in other professional courses in various colleges and Universities.
The information on the basis of which criminal investigations were started into the matter, also suggested that the money collected from the parents of the aspiring or potential students was used, at least partly, to support and fund terrorism and separatism in different ways, the statement said.
“During investigation, oral, documentary and technical evidences were collected and on the analysis of collected evidences, it surfaced that MBBS and other professional degree-related seats were preferentially given to those students, who were close family members or relatives of killed militants. Evidence also came on record to show that money had been variously put into channels that ended up in supporting programmes and projects pertaining to militancy and separatism,” it added.
The statement cited an example, where money collected in disguise of providing medical and other technical courses in various institutions of Pakistan were used to fuel the unrest post elimination of militants, including Burhan Wani in 2016 and every effort was made to disturb the peace and tranquility post abrogation of Articles 35A and 370 of the Indian Constitution.
“The examination of witnesses corroborated by other circumstantial evidence indicated that many families approached Hurriyat leaders to avail the programme of Hurriyat on the behest of ISI that aimed at incentivising militancy by compensating the family of slain militants by way of providing free of cost MBBS and engineering seats as monetary consideration,” it added.
“By incentivising the next of kin of killed militants for militancy and related activities of their killed militant relatives, Pakistan is trying to keep the pot boiling and tends to radicalise the impressionable minds in the veil of technical education,” the statement said.
“As per investigation, on an average, the cost of a seat ranged between Rs 10 to 12 lakh and depending upon the political heft of a Hurriyat leader who intervened, concessions were extended to the aspiring student and his family. On the basis of available evidence, a conservative estimate indicated that the money involved could be around Rs four crore per annum, on the basis of the fact that allocation of seats for distribution by individual Hurriyat leaders was for around 40 seats for MBBS programme every year,” it added.
“The historical bonhomie between Hurriyat leaders and their masters in Pakistan has again been exposed through the investigations and has exposed their nefarious designs once more of being hands-in-glove with the militants based in Kashmir valley and Pakistan and the undercurrents of their close knit relationship is only to destabilise the UT of J&K and Union of India,” it added. (UNI)
