The enforcement directorate Tuesday said it has attached over a dozen assets in Jammu and Kashmir in an alleged militancy financing case against Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.
The central probe agency issued a provisional order under the prevention of money laundering Act (PMLA) to attach 13 properties, worth Rs 1.22 crore, in the state.
The ED said the properties belonged to Muhammad Shafi Shah, a resident of Bandipora, and six other residents of Jammu and Kashmir, who allegedly worked for the militant outfit.
The agency said it filed a criminal case of money laundering in this instance after taking cognisance of a National Investigation Agency charge-sheet filed against Salahuddin, Shah and others under the unlawful activities prevention Act (UAPA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The ED said in a statement that Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has been the “most active” militant outfit in Kashmir and responsible for “funding militancy and secessionist activities” in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Headed by Syed Salahuddin, its self-styled commander based out of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, it funds militancy on Indian soil through monies organised by a trust called JKART (Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust) in alleged connivance with the ISI and other Pakistan-based entities,” the ED statement said.
It said the probe found that “militancy funds” were being sent to India through the hawala—illegal way of routing money by skirting banking channels, barter trade and human carriers.
“The funds are illegally distributed to the next of kin of Hizbul Mujahideen militants, active and dead,” it said.
The NIA had arrested Salahuddin’s son Syed Shahid Yousuf in this case in 2017 and the J&K government had later suspended him from service as he was working in the state agriculture department.
Shah and three others are lodged in the Tihar jail in New Delhi in connection with this case, the ED said.