Geelani to be questioned in hawala case

NEW DELHI: The special cell of Delhi Police has confirmed that it has asked Hurriyat faction leader S A S Geelani not to leave the city after one of his close associates was found involved in a hawala racket.
"During police remand, Gulam Mohammad Bhatt, who was arrested earlier in connection with a hawala case from Jammu & Kashmir, disclosed his association and financial dealings with the Hurriyat faction led by Geelani. In order to clarify certain issues that came to light during the disclosures made by Bhatt, a letter was sent to Geelani on February 17 to meet the Investigating Officer for questioning in the matter. However, Geelani expressed his inability to meet the IO due to medical reasons. In response to his reply, another letter was sent asking him to indicate the date and time convenient as per his health condition to meet the Investigating Officer. He was further asked not to leave Delhi till he has been examined in connection with the investigation of the case," said DCP (Special Cell) Arun Kampani.
Top officials of Delhi Police have confirmed to TOI that they do not wish to rush the case. "We will approach him only when his doctors give us the green light. Given the sensitive nature of the nature of the case, we are in no mood to hurry things. We will proceed purely on the basis of evidence,'' said one of the top officials of Delhi Police.
According to special cell officers, in the last week of December 2010, on the basis of secret information regarding hawala money being sent to various organizations and individuals in Jammu and Kashmir suspected to be connected with various terrorist and secessionist activities, surveillance was mounted by the special cell. On the basis of intelligence gathered, it appeared that a conspiracy was going on to circulate the money through hawala transactions. On the basis of the said information a case u/s 120-B IPC r/w 17 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered and investigation taken up.
"On January 22, officials of the special cell New Delhi Range apprehended four persons associated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a banned terrorist organization. The accused were identified as Mohammad Siddiq Ganai, and Ghulam Gilani Laloo, both residents of Sopore, and Farooq Ahmed Dagga and Ghulam Mohammad Butt from Srinagar," said Kampani.
Four different transactions of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10,000, Rs10,000 and Rs 20 lakh (total Rs 21.20 lakh) were recovered from their possession respectively. One Maruti car, a mobile phone and some incriminating documents were also recovered from them. It was during police remand that one of the accused, Gulam Bhatt, disclosed his association and financial dealings with Hurriyat faction led by S A S Gillani. The questioning is meant to clear these issues," said Kampani.

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