Seven years after Dubai-based businessman Nasir Safi Mir was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell for allegedly funding banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir, the Enforcement Directorate has attached the Rs.55 lakh purportedly seized from him in 2006. He is presently on the run and is believed to be in Dubai.
“Following Mir’s arrest, the Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Following investigations, the unit initiated necessary proceedings and have now attached the cash that was seized from him by the Special Cell,” said a police officer, adding that the money was also proceeds of the crime of terrorist funding.
Mir had obtained bail from the Delhi High Court in 2008 on health grounds, after which he is suspected to have escaped to Nepal and then Dubai via Europe and Libya using a forged passport. He was arrested in February 2006 following inputs from the Central intelligence agencies on his purported involvement in channelising hawala money for funding Hizbul operations in the Valley. Mir purportedly disclosed that he received explosives consignment from a conduit on the direction of Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin.
The police had then said that Mir, who led a lavish life and had a suite booked permanently in a South Delhi luxury hotel, was engaged in money exchange in Dubai and carpet trade. He also allegedly worked as a fund manager for the terror outfit and had close links with the chief of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
However, Mr. Farooq on Thursday maintained that he had no relation whatsoever with the money purportedly seized from Mir. “This is a known fact that I know Nasir and his family in Srinagar but I have had nothing to do with his business activity. If I am not correct, it was a militancy related matter. There was news in the media in 2006 that Mir had been arrested in Delhi and RDX and money seized from him. I was nowhere in the picture. Nobody from the authorities or investigators has ever questioned me about him or his money or activities,” he told The Hindu .
After Mir jumped the bail and vanished from the scene, the police had obtained a non-bailable warrant against him in 2009.
