NIA summoned top Delhi cardiologist in ‘terror-funding case’, not for Article 370 remark

Senior Delhi-based cardiologist Upendra Kaul is the doctor of Jammu & Kashmir separatist Yasin Malik.

Cardiologist Upendra Kaul | Twitter

New Delhi: Senior cardiologist Upendra Kaul, the chairman of Delhi-based Batra Hospital, was summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the 2017 terror-funding case, and not his criticism of the Modi government’s Article 370 decision, ThePrint has learnt.

According to a source in the NIA, Kaul, who is the doctor of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, was in regular touch with the separatist, and had exchanged “suspicious” messages with him. 

The source said Kaul had been called as a “witness”.

Filed in 2017, the terror-funding case pertains to alleged money transfers from across the border to Kashmir for terrorist and separatist activities. 

Kaul was summoned for questioning Thursday. Activist Kavita Krishnan tweeted subsequently that Kaul was summoned by the NIA for criticising the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, but a source in the agency said was not the case. 

“He was called in after his name cropped up in certain records that we were analysing as part of the investigation,” the source added. “It includes some text messages exchanged between Malik and him and some transactions that were made from Malik’s account in the doctor’s name.”

“Calling someone to join the probe does not make that person an accused in the case,” the source said. “We merely called him because his name figured in the evidence that we have collected. It was just to seek some clarifications.”

“To say that he was called because he criticised the government on the abrogation of Article 370 or 35A will be utterly wrong and malicious,” the same source said.

Earlier this month, Kaul had made critical comments about the Modi government’s Article 370 move on an NDTV talk show.

“The 1990 (exodus of Kashmiri Pandits) was a very bad moment. But for what was done in 1990, are we now taking revenge on Kashmiri Muslims,” Kaul was quoted as saying on the NDTV website.

Confusion over ‘INR’

ThePrint has learnt that, in one of the texts to Yasin Malik, Dr Kaul had made a reference to “2.77 INR”. Since INR is the abbreviation for the Indian currency, the Indian National Rupee, the NIA wanted a clarification from Kaul in this regard. According to a second NIA source, the doctor clarified that the INR stood for ‘international normalised ratio’, a measure of the time it takes for blood to clot.

Malik is said to be on blood thinners as part of his treatment and often undergoes this test. This number, Kaul is said to have told NIA officials, was from one of Malik’s blood reports and had nothing to do with the rupee.

This is an updated version of the report