ED summons top 2 J&K separatists

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Jammu and Kashmir-based separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik in connection with two separate cases pertaining to alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

While Mr Malik has been asked to appear before the ED’s zonal office in Srinagar on March 28, Mr Geelani has been summoned on April 3.

Sources said Mr Geelani is required to be questioned by ED sleuths in a 2002 case when the income-tax department recovered $10,000 from a house in Hyderpora, Srinagar, allegedly belonging to him.

They said his statement will be recorded under the provisions of the FEMA.

The FEMA case pertaining to Mr Malik is based on a 2001 FIR with local police,

Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik called to Enforcement Directorate office in separate cases of money laundering

where it seized `1 lakh equivalent in dollars from a man identified as M.A. Dar and his wife.

Mr Dar had reportedly told police that he was given the money by a man in Nepal to be further handed over to Mr Malik.

Mr Malik was arrested in this case by the state police, and was later let off on bail.

Sources said the agency has booked two separate FEMA cases.

The probe has been delayed as a number of papers were destroyed during the 2014 floods in the Valley.

Some other accused in these cases have also been summoned, they said.