ED lodges case against LeT chief

Hurriyat, Hizb-ul members also booked under Money Laundering Act

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday registered a case against Lashkar-eTayyaba chief Hafiz Saeed, members of Hurriyat Conference, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to sources, the Central probe agency will investigate the flow of funds through hawala and other illegal channels, both domestically and abroad, for funding separatists and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED has registered the case on the basis of FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Saeed under the provisions of waging war against the country and criminal conspiracy.

The NIA sleuths had recently conducted searches at several places in Srinagar, including the houses of three separatist leaders — Tehreek-eHurriyat leader Ghazi Javed Baba, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Farooq Ahmed Dar aka Bitta Karate, suspended Hurriyat leader Nayeem Khan, their aides. The NIA also booked hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the matter. Earlier, the agency scrutinised five bank accounts allegedly linked to Mr Geelani as part of its probe into suspected terror funding.

The letterheads of LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen, property related documents, `2.5 crore cash and 85 gold coins had been seized during searches by the NIA. The raids were conducted days after some separatist leaders were caught on camera saying that they receive funding from LeT and other sources in Pakistan to fund stone pelters and violent protests against the government in J&K.

The NIA, which earlier registered a preliminary enquiry, converted it into a Regular Case (RC) and conducted searches.

The houses of around eight hawala dealers and traders in Delhi were also raided by the NIA sleuths.