Delhi police grill Geelani for four hours

Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained and quizzed by police for four hours over alleged involvement in a money laundering scam on Tuesday raising concerns of fresh unrest in the troubled valley.

Delhi Police stopped the Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman and his son Naseem Geelani from boarding a Sringar-bound flight and whisked them away to Lodhi Road police station for questioning in the ‘hawala’ money scam.

A Hurriyat spokesperson confirmed the reports saying, ?Today Geelani was leaving for Kashmir from New Delhi and as he reached IGI Airport along with family members and Delhi Police arrested him from the premises.?

He also said Geelani was questioned for about four hours in the Lodhi Police Station over the hawala money case but he reached his Delhi residence safely after being released.

The veteran leader, seen as a hardliner separatist and the face of last summer’s violent anti-India demonstrations demanding independence for the disputed region, had apparently been asked by the police on Feb 19 not to leave Delhi.

Over 100 people were killed in violent anti-India protests led by separatists in Kashmir since mid-June 2010, till the situation was somewhat pacified late last year.

The unrest prompted the Centre to initiate talks with the various groups in the state, propose greater autonomy and depute an all-party delegation to the Valley.

If Geelani was being implicated in the hawala case it would be construed as an attempt to defame the separatist movement in Kashmir, said spokesperson Ayaz Akbar on Tuesday.

Delhi Police had last month asked Geelani to record his statement at the Lodhi Road police station in connection with the money laundering scam and not to leave the national capital without appearing before the police.

Geelani, refusing to go to the police station, said he was ready to answer the questions at his New Delhi residence.

Referring over the future of dialogue with the Centre-appointed Interlocutors, Ayaz Akbar said that they will decide the future of the talks when Geelani reaches Srinagar and warned against pressuring them into holding talks.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)