Separatist leader Shabir Shah arrested for funding terror

In a late evening development, Jammu & Kashmir police on Tuesday arrested another separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah in connection with the alleged terror financing case on the instruction of the Enforcement Directorate, the official sources said.
Presently heading separatist outfit called Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah is also part of Geelani’ Hurriyat conference and has reportedly accumulated huge wealth over period of 29 years of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir through various sources, including the Hawala channels, the official sources alleged.
A police team led by the DSP Sadar picked up Shah from his Sanat Nagar (Srinagar) palatial house at about 8.30 pm on Tuesday evening and handed over to Budgam police, the official sources said.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had issued fresh summons to the Kashmiri separatist leader in connection with an over a decade-old case of money laundering registered against him for alleged terror financing.
The central probe agency has issued several summons to Shah over the last few years in pursuance of the August 2005 case wherein the Delhi Police special cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani (35), an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he had 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.
Shah allegedly owns a hotel in Pahalgam, three houses in Sanat Nagar and his doctor wife Bilquis got prime posting in September 2016 as medical officer in Jammu & Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd. The posting was allegedly managed by the separatist’s wife through BJP health and medical education minister Bali Bhagat a month ago.