The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday said it has attached Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah’s house in Srinagar as part of a money laundering probe linked to a terror funding case.

The house, worth Rs 21.80 lakh, is situated at Botshah Colony in the city.

“ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged on May 30, 2017, against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and others under various sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. During the investigation it came to the fore that Shabir Ahmad Shah was actively involved in the activities of fuelling unrest in Kashmir valley by way of stone pelting, processions, protests, bandhs, hartals and other subversive activities,” an ED spokesperson said.

“Further, investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act revealed that Shabir Ahmad Shah was involved in receiving funds from terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as from the Pakistani establishment through ‘hawala’ and various other means... these funds were then being used for fuelling and supporting militant activities in the Kashmir Valley,” said the agency.

“He 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 and channels and these funds were then being used for fuelling and supporting terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley," the ED said in a statement.

In September 2017, the ED had charge-sheeted Shah in a terror funding case and three years later, a supplementary charge sheet was filed against his wife, Bilquies Shah. The agency alleged that she was also involved in money laundering.

Image source: PTI