PMLA case: Aslam Wani moved court for bail

New Delhi :  Alleged hawala dealer Mohammad Aslam Wani, arrested in connection with a decade-old money laundering case involving Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah, today moved a Delhi court seeking bail. Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma sought response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by September 7 on the plea which claimed that the accused was wrongly implicated in the case.

The court, which had denied bail to Shah on August 22, posted the bail application for hearing on September 7.
In his application moved through advocate M S Khan, 36- year old Wani said there was no material/evidence that he had indulged in making money by selling the weapons or that he ever supplied money to any one including Shah, before or after 2005.

He said he was innocent and there was no chance of him escaping from justice if he was granted the relief. The court had earlier rejected the bail plea of Shah after the Enforcement Directorate said it was probing whether he had received money from “enemy countries” like Pakistan to promote terrorism in India. Wani was arrested by ED on August 6 and is currently in judicial custody.

A sessions court here had earlier issued an open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Wani after the ED told the court he had not joined the probe. An open-ended NBW, unlike the NBW, does not carry a time limit for its execution. Wani was arrested from Srinagar on Auhust 6 by the ED with the help of the state police. Shabir Shah was arrested by the agency from Srinagar on July 26.

The ED action against the two was in pursuance of an August 2005 case, in which the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Wani, who claimed he had passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah. In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges but convicted him under the Arms Act. The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.

Earlier on August 26, 2005, Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, received through hawala channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition. During questioning, he had told the police that an amount of Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to Jaish-e-Mohammad area commander in Srinagar, Abu Baqar, and that the rest was his commission.