NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear the plea of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 17 last year for his alleged role in a terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.
The court considered the NIA’s submissions that Watali’s release would cause great harm to the ongoing probe in the terror-funding case.
In September, the Delhi High Court had granted bail to 70-year-old Watali, saying there was no prima facie material to show that he was involved in the conspiracy.
Watali, Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahudeen and nine others have been accused by the NIA of “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.
In its charge sheet, the NIA has alleged that Watali received money from Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and from a source in Dubai.