PDP’s Waheed Parra remanded to 15-day NIA custody for his alleged connections with Hizbul Mujahideen, say officials

A day before Jammu and Kashmir’s District Development Council election begins, PDP leader Waheed Parra has been remanded to 15 days of National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody on Friday. He was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly conspiring with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists to get their support during the 2019 parliamentary elections. Parra had filed his nomination for the election beginning from November 28.

On Thursday, the NIA produced Parra in a Delhi court and sought a transit remand for his production before a designated court in Jammu.

Parra was taken to Jammu and produced before a designated NIA court which remanded him to 15-day custody. It has been alleged that Parra has “close links” with some Irfan Shafi Mir, who was arrested along with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu and suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh earlier this year.

Early on Friday, PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija claimed that they had been detained at their residence to prevent them from visiting the house of Parra in Pulwama in South Kashmir.

“Their cruelty knows no bounds. Waheed was arrested on baseless charges and I am not allowed to even console his family. Even my daughter Iltija has been placed under house arrest because she also wanted to visit Waheed’s family,” Mehbooba tweeted.

According to the officials, during the investigation into Singh’s association with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, the NIA came across phone records of Mir which showed that he was in close contact with Parra.

Mir had claimed during questioning that Parra sought his support during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for his party candidate Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and also president of the PDP, the officials said.

(With agency inputs)