ED arrests Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah in terror financing case

Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah was arrested on Tuesday night from his Srinagar residence in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged terror financing.

The move came a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating if funds from Pakistan were used to fuel last year’s unrest in the Kashmir Valley, arrested seven separatist leaders, including hardline Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah.

The Enforcement Directorate, which probes financial crimes, arrested Shah in a case that is over a decade old. Shah is expected to be brought to Delhi on Wednesday and produced in a court, news agency PTI reported.

Chairman of the Democratic Freedom Party, Shah had been under house arrest for several months. He reportedly avoided the ED despite several summonses. A Delhi court had earlier this month issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the separatist leader.

Shah says the case against him is “politically motivated”.

The case dates back to August 2005, when the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani (35), an alleged hawala dealer who had claimed that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah, PTI reported.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.

With PTI inputs