ED attaches Kashmir-based operatives’ assets worth Rs 5 cr in terror funding case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has attached immovable assets and bank deposits worth Rs 5 crore as part of an investigation against some Jammu and Kashmir-based operatives who channelled funds for terrorist activities and stone pelting.

Seven immovable assets and two bank accounts have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They belong to separatist organisation Salvation Front’s chief Mohd Akbar Bhat, Fatima Shah, Qazi Yasir, Mohammad Abdullah Shah and Iqbal Mir, the ED said in a statement.

The money laundering case stems from Jammu and Kashmir Police FIR and a charge sheet it filed against Akbar Bhat, Fatima Shah, Altaf Ahmad Bhat, Qazi Yasir, Syed Khalid Geelani alias Khalid Andrabi and others on charges of being “hand-in-glove with some Pakistan-based handlers who arranged admissions in MBBS and other courses in Pakistani colleges for J&K students”.

Each student was charged about Rs 10-15 lakh for a seat, it said.

The ED said the probe found that the money was received in the personal accounts of the accused as well as the accounts of Al-Jabar Trust, which was meant for charitable purposes.

“These accounts were used for the purpose of receiving funds from the students and further ploughed (ploughing) into terrorist activities in India in various ways such as distributing money to stone pelters, providing money to the terrorists based in J&K on the instructions of Pakistan handlers such as Manzoor Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Bhat etc.,” the agency said.