I-T Dept attaches separatist leader Geelani's Delhi property over non-payment of taxes

The Income Tax department on Monday attached a property belonging to Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani over his alleged failure to pay taxes to the tune of Rs. 3,62,62,160.

"It is ordered that you are hereby prohibited and restrained, until further order of the undersigned, from transferring or changing the mentioned property, which is included in the property of the defaulter by virtue of the explanation to sub-section (1) of section 222 of the Income Tax Act 1961," said the notice issued by a Tax Recovery Officer of the Income Tax department.

The attached property is located in Khirki Extension in the Malviya Nagar area in South Delhi. The Income Tax department's action came days after the Enforcement Directorate(ED) imposed a penalty of Rs 14.40 lakh on separatist leader under the Foreign Exchange Management Act for illegally possessing foreign exchange of 10,000 US Dollars.

Along with Geelani, the ED had also imposed a penalty and confiscated the illegal acquisition of foreign exchange recovered from Yasin Malik, chairman of banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

The adjudication proceedings against Yasin Malik are in progress. More details in this regard are awaited.

Earlier, in 2017 also, the ED had summoned Geelani for allegedly possessing foreign exchange to the tune of 10,000 US Dollars illegally.