Money laundering case: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti's mother appears before ED in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: Mother of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here in a case related to money laundering, officials said.

Gulshan Nazir, who is in her late seventies, came to the ED office along with her daughter at the agency's office located in the civil lines area here, they said.

Nazir, the wife of former union Home minister and ex-chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, had earlier been summoned on three occasions, a move which was termed by the PDP as a political vendetta against the party which has been opposing the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The 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. The diaries contain the details of some purported payments made from the chief minister's discretionary fund in alleged contravention of rules, the officials said.

These funds are alleged to have been diverted during the People's Democratic Party (PDP) rule in the erstwhile state. A 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 said.