The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued summons to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in connection with an alleged money laundering case, Rising Kashmir reported. Geelani is supposed to appear before the headquarters of the directorate in New Delhi on December 18, said an official.

A case was registered against Geelani under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000, after an Income Tax Department raid at his house in Srinagar in 2002 found him in possession of unaccounted for foreign currency. He had $10,000 (approximately Rs 6.5 lakh) and could not satisfactorily explain its source.

Geelani was reportedly summoned by the Income Tax Department in 2003, but had failed to appear. The case has been pending since then with the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department.

In July, the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah in connection with an alleged money laundering case. This case dated back to 2005 when the Delhi Police had arrested suspected hawala dealer Mohammed Aslam Wani, who had claimed that he had siphoned off Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.