Kashmiri trader jailed for 6 months gets NIA clean chit in terror case

The Rajasthan high court on Tuesday granted bail to a Kashmiri businessman, who was jailed for six months on charges of links to the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group. The relief comes after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) cleared him.

The Rajasthan high court on Tuesday granted bail to a Kashmiri businessman, who was jailed for six months on charges of links to the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group. The relief comes after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) cleared him.

National Investigation Agency Headquarters, New Delhi. NIA gave a Kashmiri businessman, who was jailed for six months on charges of links to the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, a clean chit in the terror case. (Picture courtesy: NIA website)

Syed Abid Jalali was sent to Jaipur jail after Satya Prakash Arya, a businessman from the Rajasthan capital, filed a police complaint in 2013, accusing him of not returning ornaments worth Rs 25.6 lakh that he had allegedly taken for approval.

Jalali’s counsel Rajeev Surana said Arya submitted false evidence in court to link the 36-year-old Kashmiri man to the militant group. It was alleged that Jalali was associated with Mohammad Amin Bhat, a surrendered Hizbul militant.

The Kashmiri businessman was arrested in Goa where he has four shops and brought to Jaipur on December 23, 2015.

The court transferred the case to the NIA and the anti-terrorist agency found no evidence to link Jalali to the Kashmir-based outfit. Based on the NIA’s closure report, justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma granted conditional bail to Jalali.

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