Terror funding: ED attaches plush property of Kashmir separatist’s fund manager

New Delhi, Mar 12: Taking the fight to the separatists and furthering its probe in the terror funding case, the Enforcement Directorate has attached a plush property belonging to Zahoor Watali.

His immovable property in Gurugram, Haryana was attached by the officials of the Enforcement Directorate under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The attached property is valued at Rs 1.3 crore.

Watali was arrested in August 2017 by the National Investigation Agency. He has been accused of being the fund manager to several persons who parked their funds which were received from across the border. The money was being used to cause unrest in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

ED officials tell OneIndia that they are in the process of identifying more properties belonging to the separatists. The ED has identified properties that are based in Kashmir and New Delhi. In Delhi, the properties identified are at Vasant Kunj, ED sources said.

NIA sources say that during the raids, they had seized incriminating material. The NIA had questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz - Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat - and his close aides last year. Both of them are retired senior government officers.

The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, including those who pelted stones on security forces, burnt down schools and damaged government establishments.

The case names Hafeez Saeed, Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud Dawah, the front for banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.

The ED on the other hand is in the process of verifying these properties. Some are directly linked while some indirectly, the ED official said. Once the verification is completed, the properties would be attached, the official also added.