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New Delhi : Special NIA Court at New Delhi has ordered a trial against Yasin Malik and 6 others in a money laundering case. This case is connected with the allegations of receiving foreign funding from the Pakistani establishment through Hawala Channels.
It is alleged that proceeds of crime of Rs.8,94,87,639 were generated and thereafter recieved by the accused persons.
This ED case is based on the case registered by the NIA in 2017. Sections 120B, 121 and 121A of the IPC and Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were invoked.
The hearing was conducted in a closed courtroom.
Yasin Malik appeared through video conferencing from Tihar Jail and denied the charges. He said that he will contest the case.
In September, the Special NIA Court directed that charges be framed against Yasin Malik and 6 others under PMLA.
The other accused are Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Naval Kishore Kapoor, Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd., and Masarat Alam Bhat.
It is alleged that the accused persons were involved in receiving funds from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and from other terrorist outfits by way of various means and channels to propagate their ideology and agenda of secessionism and subversive activities prejudicial to the law of the land.
“I conclude that prima facie, there is sufficient material on record based upon which strong suspicion is raised against all seven accused persons namely Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Naval Kishore Kapoor, M/s Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt Ltd, Mohd. Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Masarat Alam and Abdul Rashid Sheikh, for which said accused persons have to be charged with offence u/sec. 3 of PMLA, punishable u/sec. 4 of PMLA,” Special Judge ordered on September 9.
Advocate Juhi Bhargava for Accused Abdul, Zahbi Tihami for Shabir Ahmed Shah and Nishant Singh, Amicus curae, had appeared for Yasin Malik.
The Investigation conducted by ED revealed that scheduled offences resulted in the generation of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs. 8,94,87,639, which were thereafter received, routed, transferred, concealed, possessed, acquired and/or used by the accused persons in various forms and through different channels.
It is alleged that the collected money was routed through a complex system including cash couriers using conduits who gathered money from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and delivered the funds to the Hurriyat leadership including Yasin Malik, for subversive activities and for the secession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir from India.
The ED recorded the present Enforcement complaint on 14.06.2017 for tracing out the proceeds of crime.
The ED’s allegations are that the accused Yasin Malik was the head of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), an organisation involved in terrorist and subversive activities in Jammu & Kashmir since the 1990’s.
The document seized from the house of Ghulam Mohd. Bhat, who used to work as the cashier-cum-accountant with Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, showed that the foreign contributions were received by accused Mohd Yasin Malik, accused Shabir Ahmad Shah and accused Masarat Alam through accused Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, during the financial year 2015-2016.
It is further alleged that the emails received and sent from the email used by accused Yasin Malik, indicated that he had set up an elaborate structure and mechanism across the world for raising funds for carrying out terrorist secessionist and other unlawful activities in Jammu and Kashmir in the name of freedom struggle and those funds were then used not only to sustain his organisation JKLF, but also to fuel secessionist activities and unleash violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
The court had noted that the NIA, in their 2nd supplementary charge sheet, revealed that accused Yasin Malik had received an amount of INR 15,75,595 from Saudi Arabia. Therefore, accused Yasin Malik received foreign funds to the tune of Rs. 30,75,5951 as proceeds of crime generated through criminal activity and further laundered it. (Agencies)
