PMLA case: Mehbooba Mufti appears before Enforcement Directorate in Srinagar

Mufti reached the ED office in Rajbagh at 11 am to face questioning in money laundering case

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was on Thursday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

Reports said the PDP chief appeared at the ED office in posh Rajbagh area here, at 11 am to record her statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Earlier, the ED had issued summon to Mehbooba on March 5, asking her to appear before the probe agency for questioning in a money laundering case in New Delhi on March 15. However, she approached Delhi High Court and pleaded for a stay on the summons, but the Court did not grant the same.

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Later the 61-year-old firebrand PDP president requested the ED officials to question her in Srinagar and not in Delhi and her request was reportedly accepted.

Mehbooba, who was released last year after more than a year in detention following the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, is the second high-profile leader from the Union Territory (UT), who has been questioned by the ED in money laundering case.

The beleaguered PDP president has also been accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of being in touch with Hizb-ul-Mujhaideen militant commanders and “paying them money to carry forward the agenda of secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India by way of violent means.”

Earlier, another former CM and president of National Conference (NC), Farooq Abdullah, was questioned by the ED several times in 2019 and 2020 in connection with an alleged money laundering case in J&K Cricket Association (JKCA). Last year in December, the ED attached property worth Rs 11.86 crore belonging to Abdullah in the case.