Waqf Board case: Delhi court orders release of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan on bail
Delhi court orders release of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, refuses to take cognisance of chargesheet against him in Waqf Board case
A Delhi court on Thursday ordered the release of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan on bail after refusing to take cognisance of supplementary chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him in Waqf Board case.
Special judge Jitendra Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court refused to take cognisance of the chargesheet on Thursday, holding that while “there was sufficient evidence to prosecute him” in the case, there was however “no sanction to prosecute him”.
The court meanwhile ordered the release of Khan from judicial custody on bail.
The ED had, in earlier hearings, urged the court to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet, arguing that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Khan under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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On October 29, the ED had filed the first supplementary chargesheet in the matter with 110 pages, also naming his wife Maryam Siddiqui.
The names of Khan and Siddiqui has cropped up only after being named in the supplementary chargesheet as the ED had filed the first chargesheet in the matter on January 9 against four persons for allegedly irregularities in appointment to posts of the Delhi Waqf Board.
While the four persons, Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir, Kausar Imam Siddiqui and Jawed Imam Siddiqui are currently in judicial custody after being arrested in the case, Khan was only arrested on September 2 after the ED carried out raids at his Okhla residence.
Khan had simultaneously moved a bail plea in the present matter.
The money laundering probe launched by ED stems from two FIRs, the CBI’s case in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Waqf Board and an alleged disproportionate assets case registered by the Delhi Police’s anti-corruption unit.
ED has claimed that Khan received “huge proceeds of crime” in cash thought illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested the money received on buy immovable assets in the name of his associates.