Terror funding case: Aslam Wani, aide of Shabir Shah sent to 14-day judicial custody

Alleged hawala dealer Mohammad Aslam Wani was produced before a Delhi court in connection with a decade-old money laundering case involving Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah on Sunday.Conequently, the court has sent Aslam for a 14 days judicial custody.

Duty Magistrate Jasjeet Kaur allowed the plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after advocate N K Matta, appearing for the investigating agency, submitted that Wani be send to JC. He was remanded in JC till August 31.

Wani was produced before the court on expiry of his two-week custodial interrogation, the maximum the ED could be granted under the law.

He was arrested on August 6 by the ED, after a sessions court here had issued an open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him, and was sent to eight-day ED custody.

A senior official in the central probe agency said Wani (36) was arrested from Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) with the help of the state police.

The ED had recently got a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him from a Delhi court. The agency had issued multiple summons for his appearance in the case but he never appeared.

"The warrant has been executed and Wani will now be confronted with Shah and others in order to take the probe forward", he said.

Shah, now in ED custody, was arrested by the agency from Srinagar on July 26.

The ED action against the two is in pursuance of an August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi Police's Special Cell had arrested Wani, dealer, who had claimed that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges but had convicted him under the Arms Act.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.

Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, received through 'hawala' channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition, on August 26, 2005.

Wani, who hails from Srinagar, had also claimed that he delivered around Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in multiple instalments over the past year.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)