Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate has attached Rs one lakh cash allegedly belonging to a separatist leader of hardline Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the first such action in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Sunday.
The order to attach Rs one lakh allegedly belonging to Firdous Ahmed Shah came in the wake of the Centre and the state government directing the ED to fast-track probe in 18 hawala-related cases and detect possible violations of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The money was "recovered" in 2009 from Shah, who heads the Democratic Political Party in the umbrella organisation, they said.
The ED began investigation in March this year and started attachment proceedings against the alleged ill-gotten money in the bank.
Party spokesperson and General Secretary Mohammed Sahfi Reshi told PTI that the party had moved a court against the order.
Sources said Yar Muhammad Khan and Firdous Ahmed Shah, both affiliated to Hurriyat (Geelani faction), had allegedly received a cheque of Rs one lakh.
"Rs one lakh cheque was recovered from the duo. The accused (Yar Muhammad Khan) had encashed a cheque worth Rs one lakh received from Italy to finance militants. He had handed over the cheque to one Firdous Ahmed Shah," a Jammu and Kashmir Home Department report said.
The ED alleged that this money received through legal banking channels was meant for funding of various militant activities in the state, they said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, May 20, 2012, 18:33