Cops may find it difficult to prove charges in Mirwaiz hawala case

In August last year, the Delhi Police Special Cell had accused Shah and his wife Bilkis Bano of having received Rs 2.25 crore in various instalments through hawala. The Special Cell had arrested Aslam Wani, allegedly a hawala operator, with Rs 63 lakh plus ammunition, of which Singh claimed Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah.

But the Special Cell was unable to prove anything against Shah or Bano. The chargesheet did not even name the couple. ‘‘There was no direct evidence against Shah in this hawala case. We did send him many notices to appear for questioning but he did not respond,’’ DCP (Special Cell) Ajay Kumar told The Indian Express.

Explaining why it was difficult to prove charges against Shah, a senior investigating officer said, ‘‘All communication between Shah and Wani was verbal. There was no telephonic or documentary evidence to prove that. Wani confessed the money was for Shah but it had not been delivered to Shah. We need to show recovery of money from Shah to create direct evidence against him in a hawala case.’’

The police’s allegations about the Mirwaiz suffer from exactly the same weaknesses. The Special Cell maintains Mir was working as a hawala conduit for the separatist leader for many years now. However, there is no direct evidence in form of cash recovery or documentary evidence. ‘‘Of the Rs 55 lakh recovered from Mir, Rs 10 lakh was to be delivered to a terrorist Zahoor along with the explosives, arms and ammunition, Rs 40 lakh to the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir and Rs 5 lakh was Mir’s share,’’ says DCP Ajay Kumar. There is no mention of any money transaction regarding the Mirwaiz.

Meanwhile, the Special Cell has launched a hunt for Mir’s father, Shafi Mir, who owns KM Carpets in Srinagar. Shafi Mir has been arrested twice in the valley for involvement in hawala deals.

Special Cell’s strikingly similar script

• Accused in both cases—Nasir Safi Mir and Md Aslam Wani—are carpet dealers from Middle-east hailing from Srinagar. Both arrests made in south Delhi—Wani from Kailash Hills, Nasir from Defence colony. Both tip-offs came from the IB.

• Police claim Wani was hawala conduit for DFP chief Shabir Ahmed Shah and received the consignment on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Abu Baqar’s orders. Mir is conduit for Hurriyat’s Mirwaiz Farooqi and received consignment on orders from Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.

• Wani was arrested with 5 kg RDX, 10 detonators, a foreign-made pistol with 15 cartridges plus Rs 63 lakh. Mir was arrested with two kg RDX, detonator and timer, a foreign-made pistol with 12 cartridges plus Rs 55 lakh.

• Wani procured the consignment from one Shaukat in Azadpur Mandi just a couple of hours before his arrest. Mir procured his consignment from one Latif in Defence colony hours before his arrest too. Shaukat and Latif have not been arrested.