Taking strict against jailed separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah, the Enforcement Directorate has attached his Srinagar building in connection with the terror funding case. Shabir Ahmed Shah is presently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail in connection with the money laundering case to fund terror groups active in Kashmir Valley.
"Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached an immovable property situated at Botshah Colony, Sanat Nagar, Police Station Barzulla, Srinagar of the value of Rs. 21.80 lakhs in the name of Shabir Ahmad Shah son of Gulam Mohammad Shah under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002", a statement issued by ED on Friday reads.
ED initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR dated 30.05.2017 against Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and others under various sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
"During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Shabir Ahmad Shah was actively involved in the activities of fuelling unrest in Kashmir valley by way of stone pelting, processions, protests, bandhs, hartals, and other subversive activities," the ED pointed out in its official communique.
Shabir Shah receiving funds from Pakistan-based terror groups through Hawala
Investigation under PMLA revealed that Shabir Ahmad Shah was involved in receiving funds from the terrorist organization Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and various other means and channels and these funds were then being used for fuelling and supporting terrorist activities in the Kashmir Valley.
During the course of the investigation, an immovable property worth Rs. 21.80 lakhs owned in the name of Shabir Ahmad Shah was identified and the same has been provisionally attached under PMLA.
Shabir Shah was arrested in 2017
Shabir Shah was arrested on July 25, 2017, in the case in which the Special Cell of Delhi Police had earlier arrested his close aide Aslam Wani. He was arrested in connection with over a decade-old money laundering case against him for alleged terror financing.
A Delhi court in 2017 issued a non-bailable warrant against the separatist leader. The agency had issued several summons to Shah over the last few years in pursuance of the August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi Police's Special Cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani (35), an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.
The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Shah and Wani who was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, which he had received through "hawala" channels from the Middle East, in 2005.
Shah's wife was also arrested in the same case
The Enforcement Directorate has also made Shabir Shah's wife Dr. Bilquis Shah an accused in the same case. The agency named her as an accused in its supplementary charge sheet filed in the case in 2020.
In the chargesheet filed by Enforcement Directorate in 2020, the probe agency said that Bilquis Shah, along with Shabir Shah had received Rs 2.08 crore from Aslam Wani.
It said the claim was based on Wani's disclosure in the case, where he admitted that "all amounts were in cash and were handed over to Shabir Ahmad Shah and on three occasions to Dr. Bilquies Shah".
The ED alleged that she received the said amount knowing fully well that her husband had no known sources of income and that this money could not have been obtained through licit means.
However, on October 29, 2021, she was granted bail in the same case. The court granted her relief on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties each in the like amount.
