Delhi: AAP Okhla MLA gets bail in money laundering case

AAP leader Manish Sisodia said BJP was falsely implicating the Okhla MLA. The BJP said Khan has only been granted bail and not acquitted yet

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Amanatullah Khan — arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) money laundering case — walked out of jail on Thursday, hours after a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the federal probe agency, and ordered his release on bail.

Amanatullah Khan, MLA from Aam Aadmi Party. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Welcoming Khan on his release, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was falsely implicating the Okhla MLA. “Despite their lies and manipulation, truth has prevailed with Amanatullah Khan’s bail,” Sisodia said in a statement.

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal said that all members of his party are honest, and without naming the BJP, alleged that any wrong-doers would have joined “their party”.

The BJP, meanwhile, said that Khan has only been granted bail and has not been acquitted of money laundering charges yet.

Earlier on Thursday, a court of special judge Jitendra Singh ordered Khan’s release, noting that ED had sufficient grounds to proceed against him, but failed to place on record sanction from the competent authority/government to prosecute him. It said that keeping Khan in custody in the absence of sanction would tantamount to illegal custody and there was no legal ground to justify Khan’s “further detention”.

The city court also refused to summon Khan’s wife Maryam Siddiqui, who has been named as an accused in ED’s supplementary charge sheet.

Though the federal probe agency later approached the Delhi high court, seeking an urgent hearing of its petition challenging the city court’s order, the high court said that the matter will be listed on Monday.

Hours after the city court’s order, Khan walked out of jail at around 7pm.

ED’s probe against Khan stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016, accusing him of illegally appointing various people to DWB against non-sanctioned and non-existent vacancies, which allegedly caused financial loss to the Delhi government and illegal gains to himself. He is also alleged to have illegally leased out properties of the waqf board.

Khan was arrested on September 2, after ED carried out raids at his Okhla house.

On October 29, ED filed a 110-page supplementary charge sheet in the matter, naming Khan and Siddiqui as accused. In the charge sheet, the agency had alleged that Khan had invested proceeds of crime in two properties with the help of his associates and wife. ED alleged that his wife directly, knowingly, and actively assisted Khan in the possession, concealment, and use of proceeds of crime.

On Thursday, the city court, while declining to take cognisance of ED’s supplementary charge sheet, said, “Keeping the accused in custody in these circumstances when the cognisance has been declined for the absence of sanction u/s 197(1) of the CrPC, shall tantamount to illegal custody.”

The city court also refused to summon Khan’s wife, saying the case against her was apparently based upon surmises and conjectures, and there existed no direct or circumstantial evidence against her.

“There is nothing on record to suggest that A-7 (Siddiqui) was aware about the generation of proceeds of crime by or out of such scheduled offence,” the court said.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, “The AAP should be ashamed of defending MLA Amanatullah Khan, who is guilty of everything from money laundering to bullying... He may be out on bail today, but once his trial is completed, he will be back in jail shortly.”