Srinagar, Mar 18: The State Investigating Agency (SIA) conducted searches at multiple locations in south Kashmir on Saturday to investigate the alleged generation of Rs 1.5 crore through crowdfunding during the 2016 violent unrest from suspected terror sources for personal gain.
According to a SIA spokesman, they began early morning searches in eight different locations to probe the tributaries and distributaries of slush funds running via the known secessionist MaulaviSarjanBarkati of south Kashmir.
Barkati, dubbed as the pied-piper of Valley, was famous for mobilising people onto the streets during the 2016 violent agitation with his fiery oratory.
“SIA has registered a case FIR No 02/23 relating to Crowdfunding against SarjanBarkati and others in which he has gathered significant funds amounting to more than 1.5 Crore, with his family making emotional appeals to the general public to help them for day-to-day requirements,” added the spokesperson.
He said that under this garb, he not only generated large sums of money, but also laundered money from unknown sources suspected of being linked to terror outfits for purposes in furthering the secessionist-terrorist effort.
“So far SIA have identified 10 suspects whose involvement has revealed in the initial inquiry.Raids are taking place in many districts of Kashmir,” he added.
The spokesman said each search is backed by search warrants issued by a competent court, Magistrates, local police assistance, lady police team, spotters, and transport support by the Security wing of J&K police.
“With the seizures of electronic gadgets, incriminating material and other corroborative evidence during these searches, SIA is hopeful that the searches would enable it to extract some vital evidence as to who all have contributed to the SarjanBarkati fund,” he said.
The spokesman said they are investigating source of such money, how much of it was from legitimate income and how much from unaccountable sources, whether such sources had anything to do with terror and Hurriyat finances.
He said preliminary investigations have shown SarjanBarkati has diverted a substantial part of the funds for his personal benefit.
“Barkati had purchased a piece of land worth ₹45 Lakhs in Anantnag town in the name of his wife. He later sold for ₹72 Lakhs, making a profit of ₹27 Lakhs and has also built a palatial house using public money,” the spokesman said.
He (Barkati) has also purchased 5 Kanals of land to establish a Madrassa which as per credible information is meant for making money and providing a platform to anti-national elements and also aimed to be a breeding ground for luring youth towards terrorism.
“A large chunk of such ill-gotten money has been deposited in several FDRs in the name of his family members,” he said.
The spokesman said not only has the accused breached the public trust with emotional blackmail by building a personal fortune on the crowd funds donated to him by the public for daily sustenance.
“ He as well camouflaged money coming from suspects sources under the garb of crowdfunding for the furtherance of secessionist-terrorists campaign,” the SIA spokesman said.
