A Delhi court on Friday reserved its order on whether to take cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case alleging irregularities by the Delhi Waqf Board in hiring staff and leasing assets during the chairmanship of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan.
Special judge Rakesh Syal reserved the order for January 19 after hearing the submissions made by the anti-money laundering agency which claimed there was sufficient evidence against the five entities named in the prosecution complaint (ED’s equivalent of a charge sheet) that include three alleged associates of Khan– Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui.
Khan, the Okhla MLA, has not been named as an accused.
The agency, after conducting raids on premises linked to Khan and some others in October last year, had claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA acquired “huge proceeds of crime” in cash from illegal recruitment of staff of the Delhi Waqf Board and invested these for purchasing immovable assets in the name of his associates.
The searches were conducted in the case related to illegal recruitment of staff and illegitimate personal gains made by the accused by way of unfairly leasing Waqf Board properties during 2018-2022 when Khan was its chairperson, the ED said.
The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR and three Delhi Police complaints.
The ED alleged Khan “acquired huge proceeds of crime out of the said criminal activities in cash and this cash amount was invested in purchase of various immovable properties in Delhi in the name of his associates.”
Several “incriminating” materials in the form of physical and digital evidence were seized during the raids which indicate Khan’s involvement in the offence of money laundering, it said.
