To hit them where it hurts, ED set to attach plush properties of Kashmiri separatists

New Delhi, Mar 09: Furthering its probe, the Enforcement Directorate is all set to attach the properties of the Kashmir separatists. The ED is currently probing charges of money laundering against the separatists.

The move comes just days after the National Investigation Agency carried out searches at premises of separatists, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, in connection with a case related to funding to terror and separatists groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED has identified properties that are based in Kashmir and New Delhi. In Delhi, the properties identified are at Vasant Kunj, ED sources tell OneIndia. 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.