New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan’s plea challenging his arrest in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the waqf board here during his chairmanship.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued notice to the ED on Khan’s petition and asked it to file a status report within two weeks.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 18.
Khan was arrested on September 2 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after the ED conducted a search at his Okhla residence here. He is in judicial custody till September 23.
At the outset, ED’s counsel raised a preliminary objection over the maintainability of the petition on the ground of suppression of facts.
The lawyer contended that Khan had suppressed information about the dismissal of his anticipatory bail plea by another bench of the high court which had considered the same material that have been furnished by him now. Later an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court which refused to interfere with the high court's decision and it was withdrawn.
However, the counsel representing the MLA maintained that full disclosure of facts have been made in the petition and nothing has been concealed.
Challenging Khan’s arrest, the lawyer contended it was "illegal and unconstitutional" and merited to be quashed.
“The trial court’s remand order is mechanical, so set it aside,” he said and urged the court to grant him an interim relief by ordering his release till the pendency of his petition.
The money laundering case against Khan stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR and three Delhi Police complaints.
The ED has named five people in its prosecution complaint (equivalent of a charge sheet) that included three alleged associates of Khan -- Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui.
The search was conducted in the case related to alleged illegal recruitment of staff and "illegitimate" personal gains made by the accused by way of "unfairly" leasing Delhi Waqf Board properties during 2018-2022 when Khan was its chairperson, the ED said.
Several "incriminating" material in the form of physical and digital evidence were seized during the raid, indicating Khan's involvement in the offence of money laundering, the ED has said.
The central agency, which had earlier also conducted raids on the premises of the legislator, has claimed that Khan acquired "huge proceeds of crime" in cash through illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested the money to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates.