The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached incarcerated separatist leader Shabir Shah’s house in Srinagar under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the agency said in a statement on Friday.
The money laundering probe is connected to an FIR filed by the agency in May 2017 against Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and others under various Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
“Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached an immovable property situated at Botshah Colony, Sanat Nagar, Srinagar, of value of Rs. 21.80 lakhs in the name of Shabir Ahmad Shah under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” the ED statement said.
According to the ED, it was found that Shah was involved in fuelling unrest in Kashmir Valley by organising activities such as protests, stone-pelting and processions.
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“Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that Shabir Ahmad Shah was involved in receiving funds from terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and various other means & channels,” the statement said.
{{/usCountry}}“Further, investigation under PMLA revealed that Shabir Ahmad Shah was involved in receiving funds from terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and various other means & channels,” the statement said.
{{/usCountry}}“These funds were then being used for fuelling and supporting militant activities in the Kashmir valley,” it added.
“Further investigation in the case is under progress,” it concluded.
Shah was first arrested on July 25, 2017, by the agency in a 2005 money laundering case. His wife Bilquis Shah was also named in the charge sheet in September 2020 and was later granted bail in October 2021. The NIA has also named Shah in a terror funding case.