ED summons Kazmi's wife to question on foreign funds

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned the wife of journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi, arrested in the Israeli diplomat car bombing case, to probe into the source of alleged foreign funds received by the couple. According to sources, the ED is looking into the remittances of more than Rs 18 lakh to the accounts of Jahan Ara, the wife of the senior journalist. Her statement will be recorded in this regard next week. [caption id=“attachment_254140” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Fifty-year-old Kazmi, who claimed to have been writing for Iranian  publications, was arrested on 6 March. AP Photo”]  [/caption] Jahan may be questioned on 26 March, they said. When contacted, Kazmi’s son Shauzab, however, denied receiving any summons in this regard from the agency. The ED is probing the case under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and also under anti-money laundering laws after the Delhi Police recently wrote to it to probe the source and the use of the foreign remittances sent to the couples’ accounts. Delhi Police chief BK Gupta had recently said that Kazmi and his wife have been receiving foreign remittances regularly and till 16 March, his wife had allegedly received Rs 18,78,500 and Kazmi got Rs 3.80 lakh as foreign remittances regarding which “there is no satisfactory explanation”. Kazmi’s family and his colleagues have denied all the allegations against him and have demanded a fair probe into the case. The ED, according to sources, will send a report to the Delhi Police once it gets the full information of these funds from the RBI, banks and other foreign payment agents. The agency will also probe the details of another payment amounting $ 5,500, which was allegedly received in Kazmi’s accounts. Fifty-year-old Kazmi, who claimed to have been writing for Iranian  publications, was arrested on 6 March following investigations into the 13 February bombing incident where a magnetic bomb was stuck on an Israeli embassy vehicle. Four people, including the wife of an Israeli diplomat, were injured in the bombing incident. PTI