Big jolt to Hafiz Saeed, ED attaches property worth 1 Cr of his aide Zahoor Shah Watali

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached property worth Rs 1.03 crore of  Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in the ongoing investigations in the case against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed,  and  Hizb- ul- Mujahideen's chief  Salahuddin and others, an official release said here on Tuesday.

"One immovable property of accused Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, located in Gurugram, having a value of Rs 1.03 crore has been attached provisionally under PMLA", the probe agency said.

The central financial probe agency move under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) comes after the charge sheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Mohd. Yusuf Shah alias  Salahuddin, Aftab Ahmad Shah alias Shahid-Ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Fantoosh, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate , Mohammad Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias  Peet Saifullah, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Kamran Yusuf and Javed Ahmad Bhatunder under various sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). 

?Accused Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali has been found to be involved in fund raising and as a financial conduit for Hurriyat Leaders. NIA investigation also revealed that the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other secessionists instigated the general public, especially the youth, to observe strikes and issued directives to the masses to hold anti-India protests, demonstrations and processions through press releases, newspapers and social media", ED official said.

 The secessionists instigated the masses to resort to violence especially stone-pelting on the security forces at encounter sites and also after the dispersal of Friday prayers and this was done willfully to create such circumstances which would arouse disaffection among the people of Jammu and Kashmir towards the Government of India, the  probe agency officials added.

ED's investigations also revealed that the Hurriyat leaders were receiving funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commission directly. 

"It was substantiated by incriminating document seized during search from the house of Ghulam Mohammd  Bhatt, who worked as the cashier-cum-accountant with Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, the seized  document shows that Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali was receiving money from  Lashkar- e- Taiba (LeT) Chief Hafiz Saeed and  ISI, through  the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi, apart from a source based in Dubai", a source in the probe agency said. 

Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali was remitting the same to the Hurriyat leaders, separatists and stone-pelters of Jammu and Kashmir. The said document has been maintained in regular course of his business and is signed by Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali himself. 

The documents seized by NIA and the probe agency  clearly established that Hurriyat leaders were receiving funds from Pakistan through the officials of Pakistan High Commission and through Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali. 

?The signature of Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali has also been verified and as per the expert report, his signature on the questioned document matched with his specimen handwriting as well as his admitted handwriting", the probing agency said in statement.

 The Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali along with other nine accused are under Judicial Custody at Central Jail, Tihar, New Delhi in the case investigated by NIA, it added further.The present investigations conducted by ED have resulted in quantification of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs7 crore.(UNI)