Srinagar, Oct 01: A Delhi court has slapped money laundering charges against incarcerated Yasin Malik and six others—Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Naval Kishore Kapoor, M/s Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt Ltd, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Masarat Alam and Abdul Rashid Sheikh— under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to a report in Live Law.
According the to the report, the chages has been framed against the separatist leader over allegations of receiving foreign funding from Pakistani establishment through hawala channels.
“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 u/sec. 3 of PMLA, punishable u/sec. 4 of PMLA,” the Court said as cited by the report.
The ED alleged that the accused persons received funds from Pakistani establishments through hawala channels and other sources, which were allegedly routed through different conduits and used for subversive and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the prosecution, the scheduled offences resulted in generation of proceeds of crime amounting to approximately ₹8.94 crore.
This money laundering case arose on the basis of a case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017. The NIA had invoked Sections 120B, 121 and 121A of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
