The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant relief to Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan, who appealed in the Delhi High Court in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in Delhi Waqf recruitment.
A bench of Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Dipankar Dutta directed Amanatullah Khan to appear before the ED on April 18, 2024 at 11 am. The court ordered that once this condition was met, the application for the injunction would be withdrawn.
The court asked Additional Solicitor General ASG Raju to make the following concessions. Justice Khanna said if there is any material, you should arrest him. If there is no content, don’t arrest them. You must comply with Section 19 of the PMLA. It should not be assumed that they will be arrested if they come forward.
Criticizing Amanatullah Khan, Justice Khanna said, “You have spoiled your entire case by not responding to the summons. The summons have been issued again and again, how can we forgive them? The court acquitted Khan on April 18. He also granted relief to Khan.” against an application filed by the ED in a special court for a non-bailable warrant, subject to his appearing before the investigating authority at 11 am.
The bench in the judgment expressed its reservations on certain observations made by the Delhi High Court on the merits of the case and clarified that these observations should be concluded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the basis of credible evidence or material basis for
The case relates to alleged irregularities in recruitment to the Delhi Waqf Board during Khan’s presidency. On March 11, the Supreme Court dismissed Khan’s plea, taking note of his conduct of evading repeated ED summons and not joining the investigation.
Khan then approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail and immunity from arrest. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for Khan, said there was no evidence linking Khan to a serious crime. Mr. Chaudhary also said that in January a charge sheet was filed against four persons in the case and they were later arrested. There was no formal mention of Khan in these charge sheets, who was not satisfied with Khan’s arguments and made it clear that he should join the investigation.
Khan requested the court to exempt him from appearing before the ED as he is a public figure, he was busy with activities in his constituency and therefore could not appear before the ED, such numbers are closely watched. Justice Sharma also said that in holding public officials accountable, the court could not allow the new jurisdiction to apply different laws in the investigation.
It may be noted that Amanatullah Khan is accused of illegally recruiting various people while working as Chairman of Delhi Waqf Board in violation of the rules and government regulations. It is also alleged that Khan received huge sums of money from illegal recruitment in the Delhi Waqf Board and used the same amount to buy properties on behalf of his associates.
The ED has filed charges against five subjects, including three alleged accomplices Amanatullah Khan, Zeeshan Haider, Dawood Nasir and Javed Imam Siddiqui, who were arrested by the central agency in November last year.