The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday said that it had taken possession of assets worth Rs 6.20 crore belonging to jailed Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and his family members in connection with its probe into a terror-funding case. The ED in a statement said, “These properties are in the form of parcels of land and are located in Sozeith village of Budgam district, Union Territory of J-K.” The total value of these assets is Rs 6.20 crore and these are “in the name of Watali and his family”, it added. The ED case against Watali relates to its terror funding and money laundering case against Hafiz Saeed, the founder of terror group Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and others, and is based on a charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency. The agency in the statement said, “The attachment of these immovable properties has been confirmed by the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).” It further said that the probe in the case revealed that the accused Naval Kishore Kapoor was instrumental in mobilising funds from unknown sources in Dubai and remitted the same to Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and his company M/s Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd. “The said transactions were carried out in the guise of a lease agreement between M/s Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd and Naval Kishore Kapoor which was found to be only a legal façade to bring funds from unknown sources in Dubai to India,” the agency said. “Watali has been found to be involved in fund-raising and as a financial conduit of Hurriyat leaders,” the ED had said in one of its earlier statements. It had said that the probe revealed that the “Hurriyat leaders had received funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commission directly.” “This was substantiated by an incriminating document seized from the house of Ghulam Mohd Bhat during the search,” the ED said, adding that the man worked as a cashier-cum-accountant with Watali.
