Citing prior commitments that cannot be cancelled at short notice, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehboob Mufti on Monday refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
She however asked ED to either question her via video link or send a team to her residence in Srinagar to question her.
The enforcement director on March 5, had issued summons to Mehbooba Mufti to appear in person at the ED office in New Delhi in a money laundering case.
After the summons was served to her Mehbooba Mufti went to the Delhi High court to seek a stay; however, the court did not give any relief to the former chief minister.
Mehbooba Mufti who was asked to appear before the ED on March 22, refused to appear citing ‘prior commitments that cannot be cancelled at such short notice.
“Without prejudice to any of the contentions in the proceedings before the High Court, I state that I am not in a position to attend the summon on 22nd March as I have prior commitments that cannot be cancelled at such short notice”, she wrote in a letter addressed to the ED, a copy of which was accessed by CNN News18.
She however offered, that she was willing to appear for questioning via video link from her Srinagar residence.
“If however you insist we must do it sooner, I am ready and willing to be questioned in Srinagar, preferably at my residence or through video conference from Srinagar”, she wrote.
Mehbooba Mufti also demanded that the ED should provide her with ‘necessary material and documentation that will enable her to assess the subject matter of the summons’.
“Also, kindly send the necessary material and documentation that will enable me to assess as to the subject matter of the summons. I am completely in the dark as to what this summons is about and what the scheduled offence is that has given rise to these proceedings”, she wrote.
The former chief minister added that responding to the summons does not mean that she has accepted the legality of the summons by ED.
“I reiterate that my response to the summons does not in any manner mean that I accept its legality or that I have waived any of my contentions on the vires of Section 50 PMLA or the summons sent to me purportedly under that provision or any objections I may have in law to the use of any statement in that regard”, she said.
Soon after being served the summons Mehbooba Mufti had accused the central government of ‘intimidating and browbeating political opponents”
“GOIs tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable. They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short-sighted scheming won’t work.” (Sic), she had tweeted.
A close aide of Mehbooba Mufti told CNNNews18, that Mehbooba Mufti was exploring legal options to challenge the ED summons after the Delhi high court refused to grant any relief to her.
“We all know how the BJP led government is harassing the PDP leadership, they are working hard to split the party and those who have taken a stand are being threatened by NIA and ED”, he said.
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