ED Arrests Shabir Shah’s Aide in Srinagar

New Delhi—The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested Mohammad Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, in connection with its about a decade-old money laundering case against Senior Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah.

A senior official in the central probe agency said Wani was arrested from Srinagar by the ED with the help of the state police. The official said Wani, 36, is being flown in from Srinagar and will be produced by evening before a special judge in Delhi for his further custody.

The ED had recently got a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him from a Delhi court. The agency had issued summonses for his appearance in the case but he never appeared. “The warrant has been executed and Wani will now be confronted with Shah and others in order to take the probe forward”, he said.

Shah, now in ED custody, was similarly arrested by the agency from Srinagar on 26 July. The ED action against the two is in pursuance of an August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Wani, a dealer who had claimed that he passed on Rs2.25 crore to Shah.

In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges but had convicted him under the Arms Act. The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.

Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs63 lakh, received through ‘hawala’ channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition, on 26 August 2005. During questioning, he had told the police that Rs50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs10 lakh to Jaish-e- Mohammad area commander in Srinagar, Abu Baqar, and that the rest was his commission.

Wani, who hails from Srinagar, had also claimed that he delivered around Rs2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in multiple instalments over the past year. The ED, people with the knowledge of the mater said, wants to probe the “proceeds of crime” of alleged terror financing in this case. (PTI)

Shabir Shah’s wife “questioned” by ED in New Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate has questioned the wife of arrested Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah in New Delhi when she had gone to meet her husband and has summoned her to bring the property statement to ED office on August 11.

Bilquees Shah, wife of Shabir Shah said that on Saturday she flown to New Delhi to meet her husband at ED office. “I was questioned by ED officials for about four hours. The ED officials took a written statement from me about my life, marriage, studies and my profession,” said Bilquees Shah, who is a medical doctor.

“Initially, I did not accept the ED officials for questioning me while I was meeting my husband, but they compelled me for replying to their questions,” she said, adding, that she told them she was a doctor.

“But I was shocked when they asked that that my name figures in the fabricated money laundering case,” she said, adding, the ED officials gave her a summon and asked her to be present in ED office in New Delhi on August 11 to bring her property statements along.

“I told them that being a medical doctor and a mother, it cannot be possible for me to come to ED office,” she said.

Shah was arrested by ED on 24 July and is presently in New Delhi with ED sleuths. (KNS)

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