ED issues fresh summons to Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to separatist leader Shabir Shah, asking him to appear before the agency in October in connection with the money laundering charges it is probing. Officials said Shah, who was under detention at a South Delhi guest house, accepted the summons.

Shah, the chair man of Democratic Freedom Party of J&K , had come to Delhi to meet Pakistan’s NSA Sartaj Aziz who was expected to visit India on August 23 for bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

The case for which Shah has been summoned was registered by the special cell of Delhi Police in 2005, when the cell arrested an alleged hawala dealer, Mohammed Aslam Wani (36), with Rs 63 lakh in cash. Wani was later released on bail.

Wani, in his statement, said he had been passing the money to Shah and had given close to Rs 2 crore in the past.

Shah, who has been summoned earlier as well, termed the allegations “motivated” and claimed he did not know Wani. However, Wani told the police that he had come in contact with Shah through his brother-inlaw and was later roped in by Shah for hawala trading for which he used to receive a commission of 2-3%.