NEW DELHI: A former Advocate General of Jammu and Kashmir and his associate have been indicted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the murder of HMT General Manager P.N.Khera and former Vice-chancellor of Jammu University, MushirulHaq.

A year after they were arrested, the CBI last week formally charge sheeted the duo, Mufti Mearajuddin Farooqui and Gulam Mohammad Sheikh.

The eight page charge sheet, filed before Additional Sessions Judge R.P.Gupta on Feb.10, gives a detailed account of their links with Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISD agents and JKLF militants involved in terrorist activities in the Valley, On Feb.12,1992, Mearajuddin, who was also a trustee of Jhelum Valley College of Medical Sciences in Srinagar, came to make some purchases in Delhi. Special Branch sleuths from the Operation Cell of Delhi Police swooped down at Kanishka hotel in Connaught Place around 4 pm and arrested him.

The officials recovered three bank drafts (Nos 665480 to 665482) for Rs 45,000 each, issued by the Palika Bazar branch of State Bank of India (SBI) along with Rs 2,000 in Pakistani currency. A 1991 diary of Mufti Mearajuddin, containing details of huge transactions of money, was also seized.

The same evening, Gulam Mohammad Sheikh was arrested from a flat in Sector 14 Rohini, where the police found six audio and four video cassettes containing propaganda material of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), According to Intelligence re pons, the two were working for the Pakistani ISI, specifically for terrorist activities in Kashmir. The report noted that the duo were acting as conduits for Pakistani funding of militant outfits.

‘The case was transferred to the CBI on March 2,1992, and the charge sheet was filed by DSP (CBD J.C.Prabhakar.

The duo have been charged under Sections 120 B IPC (for criminal conspiracy) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987.

The charge sheet enumerates the findings of the probe and has accused the duo of indulging in disruptionists activities under the direction of Yasin Malik, the JKLF chief, It also charges them with the murder of P.N.Khera and MushirulHaq.

The charge sheet says G.M.Sheikh advocated the merger of Jammu & Kashmir with Pakistan and actively campaigned in this direction for the last 40 years.

He had reportedly got in touch with Pakistan Intelligence officials in the Pakistan High Commission at Delhi sometime in 1965 and continued to act in a manner which was “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India.”

In 1985, Sheikh met Musthanasathi Ali, first secretary of Pakistan High Commission, who gave him a code name Khalid ~ to conceal his identity during frequent visits to the High Commission.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 19, 1993