Court orders framing of charges against Yasin Malik and 6 others in Hawala funding case
A Delhi court has ordered the framing of money laundering charges against jailed chief of banned JKLF Yasin Malik, separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid and four others for allegedly drawing funds from Pakistan for secessionist activities. The six have been accused of using hawala channels to obtain funding.
In an order dated September 9, Special Judge Prashant Sharma said, “I conclude that prima facie, there is sufficient material on record based upon which strong suspicion is raised against all seven accused persons namely, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Naval Kishore Kapoor, M/s Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt Ltd, Mohd Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Masarat Alam and Abdul Rashid Sheikh, for which said accused persons have to be charged with offence under Section 3 of PMLA, punishable under Section 4 of PMLA.”
Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) deals with the offence of money laundering. The court had posted the matter for formal framing of charges on September 30.
According to court sources, the accused could not be produced physically in court on September 30 because of security-related issues, following which the judge directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to get the charges signed by the accused in the prisons where they are incarcerated.
They said that the court has posted the matter for further proceedings on October 30.
The ED case stems from a 2017 NIA case, where the agency had invoked several charges, including of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, against
the accused.
The prosecution has alleged that the accused persons were involved in receiving funds from Pakistani establishment through hawala and from other outfits by way of various means to propagate their ideology and agenda of secessionism and subversive activities prejudicial to law of the land.
