The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it had arrested three persons, including a separatist leader and a woman, in a money-laundering case related to the selling of MBBS seats and berths in other courses to Kashmiris in Pakistan.

“The ED has arrested three persons namely Mohammad Akbar Bhat, Ms. Fatima Shah, resident of Srinagar, and Sabzar Ahmad Shaikh, resident of Anantnag (J&K) on 13/02/2024 under the provisions of PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), 2002, in connection with money laundering case,” the ED posted on X.

“The accused persons, involved in terror financing, were hand in gloves with Pakistani handlers namely Manzoor Ahmad Shah and Altaf Ahmad Bhat etc., who arranged admissions in MBBS & other courses in the colleges of Pakistan for students from
Jammu & Kashmir.”

The ED said the three had been remanded in their custody till February 20 by the court of the Special Judge ACB (CBI-cases) Kashmir.

Bhat heads the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Front, a defunct constituent of Hurriyat. He is the elder brother of Pakistan-based Altaf Ahmad Bhat, who and Manzoor Shah migrated there in the early 1990s.

Official sources said Akbar Bhat alias Zaffar Akbar Bhat and two others had been under detention since 2021. The ED took over their custody on Tuesday. The ED has offered no fresh details in the case.

Last month, the agency had attached properties worth Rs 5 crore across Kashmir belonging to Bhat, Fatima Shah and some other people, including Qazi Yasir, the head of the J&K Ummat-e-Islami religious organisation, under the provisions of the PMLA in what it called an MBBS seats-selling racket.

Pakistan has reserved seats in different professional colleges the Kashmiris, which were given on the recommendations of the separatists.

The separatists, it is alleged, sold some of these seats to the Kashmiris for sustaining their struggle or fulfilling personal needs.