Delhi Waqf Board money-laundering case: Court orders release of AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan

New Delhi: In a relief to AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan, a court here on Thursday refused to take cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him in connection with the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case.

The Rouse Avenue Court said that the prosecution complaint was filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency without obtaining the requisite sanction under the law. It said while there was sufficient evidence against Amanatullah Khan to proceed against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), there was no sanction to prosecute him.

Special Judge Jitendra Singh ordered that the AAP MLA from Delhi’s Okhla constituency should be released from custody, on furnishing Rs 1 lakh personal bond with a surety of the like amount.

Two weeks before, on a day when the trial court had asked the ED to file its response on Khan’s bail application, a prosecution complaint with an additional set of charges was filed by the ED naming alleged accomplices of the MLA, who has been in judicial custody since his arrest on September 2.

The over 100-page supplementary chargesheet was filed in addition to a charge sheet filed in the case by the ED in January.

Daud Nasir, Zeeshan Haider, and Jawed Imam Siddiqui were among those named in the January charge sheet. The three were arrested by the ED in November 2023.

The ED is investigating suspected money laundering related to alleged wrongful appointment of employees and leasing of assets of the Delhi Waqf Board during the tenure of Amanatullah Khan as its head. Khan’s arrest came soon after the ED searched the legislator’s house in south Delhi’s Okhla area. The agency alleged that the MLA bought a property worth over Rs 35 crore in Okhla.

The legislator is also facing allegations of using corruption money to buy properties in the name of his aides. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also filed separate corruption cases against the AAP legislator.

The case dates back to November 2016 when a complaint was filed against Khan, who was the then Chairman of the Waqf Board. The complaint accused him of making illegal appointments to various approved and non-approved positions within the Board. Following a CBI investigation, it was revealed that Khan had deliberately ignored the rules to appoint his close associates. The CBI registered a case, which was later taken up by the ED for a money laundering probe.

–IANS