Srinagar: Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Shabir Ahmad Shah was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police on the instructions of Enforcement Directorate (ED). Shah, general secretary of the hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC), headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was arrested after a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) was issued by the ED when he failed to appear before it despite several summons.
Official sources told UNI that a team of local police arrested Shah from his Sanant Nagar house in Srinagar last night. The arrest of Shah came a day after seven separatist leaders, including son-in-law of Geelani and spokespersons of both the factions of HC, were arrested in connection with terror funding from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). A Delhi court yesterday sent all the seven leaders to 10 days remand of National Investigation Agency (NIA). The sources said Shah who will be shifted to Delhi today was arrested in connection with over a decade-old money laundering case against him.
He would be produced in a court at New Delhi later in the day. The ED had earlier issued multiple summons in pursuance of August 2005 case to Shah, but he never deposed before the central investigating agency. The Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who confessed during questioning that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah. The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani. Wani, a resident of Srinagar, had also claimed that he delivered around Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in multiple installments over the past year. (UNI)
