Three Jammu and Kashmiri citizens have been taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case involving Pakistani intermediaries and terror financing, the agency announced on Wednesday. The three individuals—Mohammad Akabar Bhat, Fatima Shah, and Sabzzar Ahmad Shaikh, residents of Anantnag—were taken into custody on Tuesday in accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in relation to a money laundering case in which it was alleged that individuals implicated in financing terrorism worked closely with Pakistani handlers, Manzoor Ahmad Shah and Altaf Ahmad Bhat, who arranged for students from Jammu and Kashmir to enroll in MBBS and other courses in Pakistani colleges.
According to the federal agency, a Special Judge ACB (CBI-Cases) Kashmir, Srinagar, has remanded the accused to ED custody until February 20. Based on a formal complaint (FIR) filed by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for offenses under the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 against Mohammad Akbar Bhat, Fatima Shah, Altaf Ahmad Bhat, Qazi Yasir, Syed Khalid Geelani, also known as Khalid Andrabi, and other individuals connected to terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the ED began an investigation into money laundering.
“ED investigation revealed that the arrested accused persons were hand in gloves with Pakistani Handlers in the guise of admissions in MBBS and other courses in the colleges of Pakistan for students from Jammu and Kashmir,” said the agency.
“They had received money in their personal accounts and in the bank accounts of Al-Jabar Trust which was a charitable trust but it was being used for the purpose of receiving funds from students, which were further being ploughed into the terrorist activity in India in various ways such as given money to stone pelters, providing money to the persons/terrorist based in Jammu and Kashmir as per instructions of Pakistan handlers such as Manzoor Ahmad Shah and Altaf Ahmad Bhat.”
Prior to this, under the terms of the PMLA, 2002, ED had temporarily attached properties in the form of immovable properties and bank accounts totaling about Rs 5 crore.
