Shabbir Shah in touch with Hafiz Saeed, received hawala money from Pakistan to promote terrorism, says ED chargesheet

Shabbir Shah was arrested from Srinagar on July 25 on charges of money laundering.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday filed a chargesheet against Kashmiri separatist leader Shabbir Shah and accused him of being in touch with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.

The Kashmiri separatist leader speaks to Saeed on phone to discuss Kashmir issue, and had telephonic conversation with the 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind in January 2017, the ED chargesheet says, news agency ANI reported.

The chargesheet says that Shah received funds from Pakistan-based terror outfits to promote terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.

ED has also said that Shah's wife Dr Bilquis was also involved in collecting money through hawala in terror funding.

Mohammed Aslam Wani, who is in judicial custody has confessed that he received deliveries of hawala money on behalf of Shabir Shah in Delhi, which was delivered to him by Pakistan hawala operator Shafi Shayar.

According to ANI, ED in its chargesheet has further claimed that Shabir Shah has admitted to that he has no source of income of his own and does not file any ITR.

The Kashmiri separatist leader receives donations in cash from locals and his well-wishers towards party fund which amounts to 8-10 lacs per annum.

The ED filed the chargesheet against Shah, a suspected hawala dealer in connection with a 2005 money laundering case filed against him for alleged terror financing.

Wani had earlier claimed that he had given Rs 2.25 crore to Shah, following which the ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the duo. The agency had arrested Wani on August 6.

The final report, filed before Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma, also named the alleged hawala dealer Wani, who is in judicial custody along with Shah.

Shah was arrested from Srinagar on July 25 on charges of money laundering.

Shah was arrested by the ED a day after several Hurriyat leaders were taken into custody of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in a case of alleged terror funding in the Valley to fuel unrest.

Investigating agencies like the NIA have cracked down on Hurriyat leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law -- Altaf Ahmed Shah, also known as Altaf Fantoosh -- and six other Kashmiri separatists.