Delhi court denies anticipatory bail to AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in money laundering case

The Okhla legislator had moved the anticipatory bail plea on February 17 citing that he is worried he may be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate

A Delhi court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan in a money laundering case registered against him in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of staff and leasing of properties for the Delhi Waqf Board.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. (Sonu Mehta/HT File Photo)

The Okhla legislator had moved the anticipatory bail plea on February 17 before special judge Rakesh Syal, citing that he is under the scanner of the agency for his alleged role in the case and is worried he may be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Appearing for Khan, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy and advocate Rajat Bharadwaj argued that the ED case is based on two FIRs, one by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the other by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which goes against the cardinal principle of criminal law that two FIRs cannot be registered for the same cause of action.

They further argued that there is no evidence on record to prove that Khan was guilty of generating proceeds of crime which the ED is probing.

The counsels evinced that the courts, while granting bail in the predicate offence case, have observed that there has been no loss to the exchequer for the creation of tenancies of the properties of the Delhi Waqf Board, and there have been no material on record to show that bribes were paid for securing jobs with the Delhi Waqf Board or salaries were drawn without doing any work.

Special public prosecutor Manish Jain and advocates Ishaan Baisla and Snehal Sharda, appearing for the federal probe agency, opposed the anticipatory bail application over Khan’s conduct, highlighting that he has evaded repeated summons issued to him.

Pointing out apprehension of evidence tampering, influencing witness and absconding, the agency submitted that Khan concealed the fact that he has 22 cases against him.

They also argued that Khan had approached the Delhi high court earlier seeking the termination of an FIR on grounds that two FIRs cannot be filed on the same cause of action. But the petition was dismissed on February 7 and this fact was also not revealed before the court.

ED initiated its probe based on the CBI case registered in 2016, accusing Khan of illegally appointing various people to the Delhi Waqf Board against non-sanctioned and non-existent vacancies, which caused financial loss to the Delhi government and illegal gains to himself.

Subsequently, the ED also pressed money laundering charges against Khan. According to the federal agency, the AAP leader laundered his illegal gains by purchasing immovable properties through his associates.