ED to arrest separatist leader Shabir Shah in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has a registered money laundering case against Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah, after they acquired non-bailable warrant against him for failing to appear for questioning.

The Department appealed the court for Shah’s nonbailable warrant on June 9 and the court issued the bail on June 22. Shah was issued summons to appear for questioning about seven times but he never turned up.

“Since he is not cooperating, we had no option but to move the court for a non-bailable warrant,” an ED official said.

He was last called on June 6, where Shah claimed that the case against him is “politically motivated” before the media.

Shah is reported to be involved in a case in which Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested 35-yr-old Mohammed Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who claimed he gave Rs.2.25 crore to the leader. Police also recovered 63 lakhs from Wani, which he acquired through hawala channels from the Middle East in 2005.

During interrogation, Wani revealed 50 lakhs were to be delivered to Shah and 10 lakhs were to be delivered to Abu Baqar, area commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Srinagar and the rest was his commission.

Criminal case has been registered against the leader and Wani by the ED under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to the sources, the ED is probing the case and once it has confirmation of the funding they would seize Shah’s properties, the Indian Express reported.