Shehla Rashid's father claims she took Rs 3 crore from terror funding accused

Former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid's father has claimed a threat to his life from his very own daughter. In a letter to the J&K Director General of Police, Abdul Rashid Shora said he has been facing threats since 2017 when Shehla took the plunge into Kashmir politics.

Abdul claimed that despite his strong opposition, Shehla took Rs 3 crore in cash from businessman Zahoor Vatali and ex-MLA Rasheed Engineer. Reacting to the allegations by her father, Shehla, in a tweet, said: "Many of you must have come across a video of my biological father making wild allegations against me and my mum & sis. To keep it short and straight, he's a wife-beater and an abusive, depraved man. We finally decided to act against him, and this stunt is a reaction to that."

Two months after the duo approached Shehla's father with the offer of including her into IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal's proposed Jammu Kashmir People's Movement Party in June 2017, Vatali was picked up by the NIA in connection with the terror funding case. Shehla was part of the CPI-M then. 

"The two showed a trailer of the launch of JKPM and urged me to extend my cooperation to get Shehla join the party. They offered me Rs 3 crore for Shehla to join JKPM."

Despite Abdul's apprehensions that the money could be coming from illegal channels and could be used for unlawful activities, he claims "I found my wife Zubaida Shora and elder daughter Asma Rashid to be supportive of Shehla and become party to this deal along with one more boy Sakid Ahmad who is a downtown boy introduced to me as her personal security man by Shehla as he used to carry a pistol with him."

Shehla's father claims that she accepted the money in cash and told him not to disclose anything to anyone about the same, as "this could put his life in danger". "She told me much more (money) is about to come in the future and so I need to shut up my mouth," Abdul claimed.

"I have strong belief that there anti-national activities going on in my house. The characters involved in the plan are my daughters, my wife and Shehla's security man namely Sakib, who lately threated me with his pistol for my resistance posted to Shehla for her activities," he claimed in his letter to the DGP.

Abdul claimed Shehla and Zubaida hatched a conspiracy to throw him out of the house when he objected to their dealings. He said they filed a complaint against him under the provisions of Protection Of Women from Domestic Violence Act in the Court of 3rd Additional Munsiff, Srinagar, following which the court ruled against him staying in the house. He said despite getting a legal remedy from the court, the police failed to implement the court order.

In his letter, Abdul has requested the J&K DGP to conduct a probe into the conduct of Sakib and his associates, bank details of Shehla, Zubaida, Asma Rashid and property acquired by them at New Delhi. He also urged the police to look into their email accounts and "mysterious financial dealings with Peerzada, Vatali and Engineer Rashid and notorious activities being done by them in the name of empowerment of women and social justice NGO".