ED summons Mehbooba Mufti's mother for questioning in money laundering case

Hours after the PDP announced its decision to stay away from the proceedings of the Delimitation Commission the Enforcement Directorate served a notice on the mother of its president Mehbooba Mufti asking her appear at the agencys office here on July 14 in connection with a money laundering caseAccording to the notice posted by Mehbooba on her official Twitter account her mother Gulshan Nazir has been asked to appear before the central probe agency at its office in SrinagarThe criminal case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA is linked to the recovery of at least two diaries by the ED after raids on an alleged associate of Mehbooba a former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministerThe diaries contain details of some purported payments made from the chief ministers discretionary fund in alleged contravention of rules officials saidThese funds are alleged to have been diverted during the Peoplersquos Democratic Party PDP rule in the erstwhile stateA few lakh rupees from these funds are alleged to have been transferred into the accounts of Nazir and some others and the ED wants to question her about it the officials saidNazir is the wife of the late Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad SayeedMehbooba 62 expressed surprise that the notice was served on her mother on the day her PDP decided not to meet the Delimitation Commission set up to redraw Assembly constituencies in Jammu and KashmirOn the summon Mehbooba said ED sent a summon to my mother to appear in person for unknown charges In its attempts to intimidate political opponents GOI Government of India doesnt even spare senior citizens Agencies like NIA National Investigation Agency and ED are now its tools to settle scoresThe notice came hours after her party decided not to meet the Delimitation Commission saying the body lacks constitutional and legal mandate and is part of the overall process of political disempowerment of people of Jammu and KashmirIn a twopage letter written to Ranjana Desai a retired Supreme Court judge heading the panel general secretary of the party Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura said the PDP has decided to stay away from the delimitation process and not be part of some exercise the outcome which is widely believed to be preplanned and which may further hurt the interests of our peopleThe letter started off with highlighting the August 5 2019 revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two union territories by the CentreIt said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been robbed of their legitimate constitutional and democratic rights by the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution illegally and unconstitutionallyWe are of the considered opinion that the Delimitation Commission lacks the constitutional and legal mandate in the first place and its very existence and objectives have left every ordinary resident of JK with many questions the letter which was emailed and personally delivered saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever