ED summons Geelani in money-laundering case

Continuing the crackdown on terror-funding in Kashmir, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Geelani in a money-laundering case.

Sources said the ED's regional office in Srinagar on Wednesday delivered a  notice to the octogenarian leader at his uptown Hyderpora residence. The ailing separatist has been asked to appear at ED's Delhi zonal office.

Officials said Geelani is required to be questioned by ED sleuths in connection with a 2002 case when Income Tax department recovered $10,000 from his home. Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, was unable to declare the source of the money then. He was summoned by the Income Tax department in 2003. However, he failed to appear and the  case has been pending with the I-T department and the ED since then.

Earlier in March, the ED summoned Geelani and pro-independence JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with its probe against them in two separate Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) cases.

On  July 25, another senior separatist leader Shabir Shah was arrested by the ED in connection with over a decade-old terror-financing case. In September, the ED filed the final report before the court in which it also named alleged hawala dealer Mohammed Alsam Wani, who is in judicial custody along with Shah.

The case dates back to August 2005 in which the Delhi Police's Special Cell had earlier arrested Wani who had then claimed that he gave Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

Besides, ED, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also probing alleged terror-funding cases  against Kashmiri separatists. The NIA has arrested 10 people, including seven second rung separatists leaders, a renowned businessman and a photo-journalist for terror-funding and subversive activities to fuel unrest.