New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken possession of assets worth Rs 6.20 crore in connection with a militancy funding case against Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, the federal agency said on Tuesday.
“These properties are in the form of land parcels and are located in Sozeith and Goripora villages of Budgam district, Union Territory of JK,” the agency said in a statement.
The total value of these assets is Rs 6.20 crore and they are in the name of Watali and his family, it said.
The ED had attached these properties in April this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and has now taken possession after an adjudicating authority of the law confirmed the action.
The agency’s case against Watali relates to its funding and money laundering case against Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and others.
An FIR and charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Saeed, Watali and others is the basis of ED’s PMLA case.
Watali, the ED said, has been found to be involved in raising funds and acting as a financial conduit for Hurriyat Leaders.
“He was remitting funds to the Hurriyat leaders and separatists. All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other secessionists instigated the general public, especially the youth, to observe strikes and resort to violence, especially stone-pelting on the security forces at encounter sites,” the ED charged.
Another accused in the case, Naval Kishore Kapoor, was “instrumental in mobilising funds” from unknown sources in Dubai. He remitted the same to Watali and his company Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd, according to the agency.
“The said transactions were carried out in the guise of a lease agreement between Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd and Kapoor. This was a legal facade to bring funds from unknown sources in Dubai to India,” the ED said.
Further probe in the case in ongoing, it said.
Presently, Watali is lodged in the Tihar jail in connection with the NIA case. PTI

Press Trust of India