New Delhi:

The Rouse Avenue court on Monday issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan’s plea seeking anticipatory bail in the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case. ED has summoned him for today.

Special Judge Rakesh Sayal issued notice to the ED and listed the case for further hearing on Tuesday.

The anticipatory bail plea was filed through lawyer Rajat Bhardwaj.

Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy argued and prayed for interim protection. However, the court refused to grant relief.

Guruswamy said Khan was summoned in a money laundering case.

He said that the matter is of filing of two FIRs in relation to the same case. The first FIR was registered by CBI on 23 November 2016.

It is alleged that the petitioner was wrongly appointed Chairman of Delhi Waqf Board.

The agency closed the case and termed it an administrative irregularity but they used it to file a second FIR.

The senior advocate said, “It is a cardinal principle of criminal law that there cannot be two FIRs for one cause. In the two FIRs they tried to reopen the case.”

He also said that the bail orders in both the cases reached the same conclusion that there was no loss to the exchequer.

It said that it is alleged that 33 contractual employees were recruited and there were irregularities in the said appointments.

“It was also mentioned in the bail orders that no bribe was given, and no recovery was made. Then there is no question of proceeds of crime,” he said.

“For the two allegations of leasing of property, it was concluded that there was no evidence of loss to the exchequer and it was concluded that they were administrative irregularities,” he said.

The senior lawyer also said that three sets of summons have come, “The last summons I complied with was through AR, and I had submitted my mobile phone. The third summons was for today.”

“Let the applicant appear before the ED,” the court asked. Counsel submitted that the applicant is before the court today and urged the court to grant him protection till the next date of hearing.

Earlier, he had challenged the summons issued by ED in the High Court. However, he withdrew the petition.

Rouse Avenue Court took cognizance of the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case on January 19, 2024.

ED has filed a charge sheet against four people Zeeshan Haider, Javed Imam Siddiqui, Dawood Nasir and Kausar Imam Siddiqui.

During the hearing on consideration of the charge sheet, the ED had alleged that at the behest of AAP MLA Amanat Ullah Khan, property worth Rs 36 crore was purchased with ill-gotten gains. He gave the money. 8 crore cash.

In response to a question related to the role of Amanatullah Khan, the ED lawyer had said that further investigation is going on regarding the role of others.

ED Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Manish Jain had submitted that during the investigation of this PMLA case, the ED admitted that the FIRs were earlier registered by the CBI, ACB and Delhi Police.

It was further said that the ACB had requested for investigation under PMLA against MLA and then Speaker Amanat Ullah Khan. Properties were allegedly created in Delhi, Telangana and Uttarakhand from the ill-gotten gains.

The ACB conducted searches at premises owned and controlled by Hamid Ali Khan and Kaussar Imam Siddiqui. The ED had submitted that incriminating evidence and illegal weapons were recovered.

Three diaries were also recovered during the search. Qausar Imam Siddiqui maintained these diaries.

An FIR was registered under the section of Arms Act in Jamia Nagar police station regarding the recovery of illegal weapons.

It was also alleged that he purchased properties in the name of his benamidar Zeeshan Haider.

SPP Jain has also submitted that the diaries reveal high value transactions between Amanat Ullah and Javed Imam Siddiqui including purchase of a plot of 1200 square yards in Tikona Park in Okhla.

This particular property was purchased for Rs 36 crore and is supported by the transaction diary. Rs 8 crore cash was handed over on behalf of Amanat Ullah. Jain had said that Rs 9 crore was paid by accused Zeeshan and Dawood Nasir to Javed Imam Siddiqui through banking channels.

SPP Jain said that the original owner of the property is Ayesha Kanwar who had purchased it in 2019. It was sold to accused Zeeshan and Dawood in 2021.

Agreement to sale worth Rs 36 crore has been recovered from the mobile of the accused. This transaction is supported by a diary, the agreement to sell.

ED said that this property was purchased at the behest of Amanat Ullah Khan. Kausar Imam Siddiqui is the cousin and brother of Javed Imam Siddiqui.

“Instead of the original settlement of Rs 36 crore, another settlement of Rs 13.40 crore was made and offered,” the ED argued.

“This shows that they have manipulated the front page. This is tampering with evidence,” the ED lawyer said.

He also said that out of Rs 36 crore, cash transactions of Rs 27 crore were evident. It is a clear case established against the accused persons and fits into the case for summoning the accused persons.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)