ED issues fresh summons to separatist Shabir Shah

The summons have been sent at the South Delhi guesthouse where Shah, Chairman of Democratic Freedom Party of J&K, has been kept after the Delhi Police detained him on Saturday when he landed in the city to meet Pakistani leadership in prelude to the now cancelled NSA-level talks, sources said. Shah has been summoned at the Delhi zonal office of the agency this week, sources said.

This is the third attempt by the agency to serve summons to Shah in an August 2005 case, where the Delhi Police's Special Cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he had passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah. While the agency had said  that its earlier summons were not replied by Shah, the Kashmiri leader had in the past said that the case was "politically motivated". 

Wani, who is out on bail, has also been summoned by the ED, which has registered a case against him and Shah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh received through 'hawala' channels from the Middle East and a large amount of ammunition on August 26, 2005. He had confessed that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to the Jaish-e-Mohammad 'area commander' in Srinagar Abu Baqar, while the rest of the money was to be his commission.

Wani (35) also claimed that he had delivered Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in installments over the past year. Wani, who ran a computer shop, had come in contact with Shah in 2004 when he had sold him a computer, police had said.

Sources said Shah had allegedly asked Wani to channel 'hawala' money to him from Delhi, for which he was paid 3% commission. He had also allegedly given Wani the phone number of one Saifi based in Muzaffarabad in PoK, who instructed him to collect the money. Wani was arrested with 5 kg RDX, 10 detonators and a foreign-made pistol with 15 live cartridges from South Delhi. 

In response to the summons issued to him, Shah said he would present himself before the ED in October, agency sources said.