ED registers case against Hizbul chief

Central probe agency was prompted to register the case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act after it took cognisance of an NIA FIR

In a first, the Enforcement Directorate today registered a money laundering case against ten people, including chief of banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin, for alleged cross-border funding of terror activities in the country.

The ED was prompted to register the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (Act) after it took cognisance of an NIA FIR registered against these people.

The central probe agency, sources said, will look into the financing and terrorist activities by Hizbul Mujahideen from Pakistan to different militant organisations in India.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) had last year filed its case against these ten in connection with its probe related to cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade.

Those named in the charge sheet included Salahuddin's deputy Gulam Nabi Khan alias Amir Khan, Umer Farooq Shera alias Mehboob-ul-Haq, Manzoor Ahmed Dar alias Masroor Dar, Zaffar Hussain Bhat alias Khursheed, Nazir Ahamd Dar alias Shabir Ellahi, Abdul Majeed Sofi alias Majeed Bisati and Mubarak Shah among others, they said.

Besides, Talib Ali alias Talib Hussain Lali and Mohammad Shafi Shah alias Doctor alias Dawood were charged with various provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the NIA chargesheet.

All of them, including Salahuddin, have been named in the ED case registered under the PMLA, a first regular money laundering case to probe offshore terror financing ramifications, the sources said.

In a meticulously done probe, the NIA claimed to have unearthed at least Rs 13 crore which had been pumped through cross border trade at Uri, cash couriers and normal banking channels besides the routine hawala route.