FIA has booked Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Bhat and 15 associates for “fraud, cheating and criminal breach of trust”
A premier investigation agency in Pakistan has booked Kashmiri separatist leaders for embezzling funds of nearly Rs 100 crore in a corruption case involving a housing society in Islamabad. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Bhat and 15 associates for “fraud, cheating and criminal breach of trust.” Bhat is president of Central Board of Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Society (CBRECHS).
Altaf lives on the outskirts of Srinagar in Bagh-e-Mehtab locality. He is a prominent leader of Hurriyat Conference in Pakistan.
The agency has said the accused executed agreements on “exorbitant rates without considering the actual rate of the land”, changed the agreement of land use by turning residential plots into commercial plots without paying conversion fee and released payment to actual landowners without physically taking over the land.
The FIA has arrested two persons – Choudhary Nazir Ahmed, CBRECHS executive member and Rana Liaqat Ali (landowner). The case was filed on the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Altaf, who is brother of Kashmiri separatist leader Zaffar Akbar Bhat, is absconding.
Zaffar, a former militant commander and founder of Salvation Movement, a separatist outfit, has been arrested by the J&K Police for allegedly selling MBBS seats in Pakistan’s professional colleges, which are reserved for Kashmiri students, and used the money to allegedly fund violent activities in Kashmir. Zaffar was also questioned by the National Investigation Agency in a terror funding case.
