ED questions Mehbooba on spending of funds, ancestral property

Minutes after her questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and the former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that there would be “no change in the party’s strategy on restoration of Article 370 and resolution of Kashmir issue.”

The former Chief Minister was addressing media persons after being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for five hours at its Raj Bagh office in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

   

She was questioned in connection with the spending of funds and sale of ancestral property.

“We remain firm on the issues for which our party has come into existence. Those issues and agenda with regard to resolution of the issue of Jammu & Kashmir and restoration of Article 370 are something, we will keep striving for,” said Mehbooba Mufti, who was questioned between 11 am to 4 pm at the ED office.

When asked about the content of ED questioning, Mufti said it was pertaining to the sale of ancestral land in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara and the utilisation of Chief Minister’s discretionary funds.

“There was questioning regarding sale of land in Bijbehara which was in the name of Mufti sahab (Mufti Muhammad Sayeed). They asked as how it was sold and at what cost. Secondly, how the secret funds as a Chief Minister and the money, which used to be distributed among widows, were spent. How these funds were earmarked and how the widows were identified etc.,” Mufti said.  She added that during the ED questioning, she was also asked whether there was any spending on youth engagement and how it was done.

Giving an impression that her questioning by the ED was something “very typical”, Mufti said, “The dissent has been criminalised in this country. This country is being ruled by ED, CBI or NIA. You either get charged for sedition or else slapped with a case of money laundering as soon you speak up. The country is not running according to the Constitution of India. But it is being guided by a particular party’s agenda which doesn’t allow you to speak. Whosoever speaks up, is hounded. These things will continue,” Mufti said.

Mufti said she had “nothing to hide” adding that her hands “were clean.” “Maybe this is the reason it took them two years to find out (something against me). Now they have come down to the extent as how much was spent on my father’s graveyard and how the CM’s secret fund was allocated to the widows,” Mufti said.  Earlier, Mufti had skipped two summons of the ED for her questioning in the national capital.

She had requested the ED to question her at the Srinagar office of the agency. The agency had accepted her request.

Earlier this week, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claimed in a charge sheet filed in connection with a case related to the arrested former DySP Davinder Singh that Mufti knew arrested Hizbul Mujahideen militant Naveed Babu and had also spoken to him once.

This is for the first time that the name of Mufti has come up in any of the cases being probed by the NIA in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NIA has filed a supplementary chargesheet against three persons including the arrested Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth wing president Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra in a militancy case. It may be recollected that Mufti was elected as the president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for another term last month.

After more than a year long detention, Mufti was released by the Jammu and Kashmir administration in October last year.

She had been detained along with almost three dozen other leaders on August 5, 2019 after the Government of India scrapped special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir and was the only political leader who continued to be under detention for the longest time.

Later in the day Mehbooba took to Twitter and said she was “made to sign a statement” during her ED questioning despite her “reluctance.”

“To set the record straight, during the course of my questioning at ED, right from the start I insisted on not signing any statements till I consulted my lawyers. But I was shown rule books & told that not signing would have consequences. Finally despite my reluctance, I was forced to sign a statement which is evident from the CCTV footage of my questioning,” Mehbooba wrote.

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