ED files charge sheet against separatist leader Shabir Shah’s wife

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) Tightening its noose on separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a supplementary charge sheet against Bilquis Shah, wife of separatist leader Shabir Shah in a terror funding case, officials said.

A senior ED official here said that the agency filed a charge sheet against Bilquis under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The official said Bilquis has been made accused for her role in the commission of offence of money laundering for carrying out illegal activities.

Earlier, the ED has attached properties of Shabir Shah, his wife and daughters in Srinagar’s upscale Effandi Bagh neighbourhood.

According to ED, Shabir Shah has been found to be carrying out illicit activities along with his accomplice Mohammad Aslam Wani, who is an activist of banned militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The official said that Shah was using Wani as a carrier for collecting hawala money sent by his Pakistan based outfits through hawala operators to deliver the same to him and his wife for carrying illegal activities.

During investigation it was revealed that Shabir, without having any legitimate sources of income, had received money for carrying out separatist activities in J&K and had acquired various properties through a maze of dubious transactions, the official said.

Bilquis also received illegitimate money from Wani on various occasions, the official said.

The ED case is based on the FIR and charge sheet filed by Delhi Police Special Cell against Wani.

According to the Special Cell charge sheet, Wani was apprehended with 5 kg of explosives, one pistol with 15 live cartridges and a cash of Rs 62.96 lakh.

–IANS

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