The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Ur Rehman Para allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen to ensure its support ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the reports, the NIA had arrested PDP leader Para in November, just ahead of the District Development Council (DDC) polls in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in connection with its investigation in connection with the suspended DySP Davinder Singh’s links with the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.
Para had also recently secured a win in the DDC election from Pulwama. He is currently in jail.
TN Raina, the lawyer representing Para declined to comment on this specific NIA claim. However, in his bail application filed before the NIA special court in Jammu earlier this month, Para denied all allegations of Hizbul links and suggested he was being framed ‘for settling political scores with a political party’.
Para had allegedly paid money to Hizbul, says NIA
Reportedly, the money was allegedly delivered to Hizbul operative Syed Mushtaq Naveed alias Naveed Babu through Davinder Singh. The arrested J&K police officer had allegedly received the money at Srinagar airport, where he was posted then and had carried the same hidden in a tiffin box, as per a report in Indian Express.
Davinder Singh was arrested along with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists Naveed Babu and Asif Rather on the 11th of January when they were travelling together in a car. Later, it was reported that he was on the payroll of the Islamic terrorist organisation. Subsequently, his case was handed over to the NIA. The NIA had taken over the case on the 18th of January.