Court rejects Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah’s bail plea

Srinagar: A Delhi court Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah in a 2007 money laundering case related to alleged financing.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma, who had in August last year denied the relief to Shah citing the ongoing probe, dismissed his fresh bail plea.
In his bail application filed through advocate M S Khan, the accused had told the court that investigation into the case was complete as the agency has filed its charge sheet and there was no chance for Shah to hamper the probe.
The court had on August 22 last year rejected Shah’s earlier bail plea.
On November 15, the court had framed money laundering charges against Shah and alleged hawala dealer Mohammad Aslam Wani in the case. Both the accused have pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The central probe agency, in its charge sheet filed under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), had furnished Shah’s statements where he had allegedly told the investigators that he had “no source of income of his own” and that had “not filed any Income Tax Return (ITR).” The probe agency had recorded the statement of 36-year- old Wani where he allegedly said that he came to Delhi from Srinagar “at the directions of Shah” sometime in April, 2003 and that was the first time he had met him