Jahangirpuri clash: Ansar, others booked for money laundering

The ED will scan their bank accounts to ascertain if any funds received from within India and abroad were “used to fuel communal tensions”. It will also investigate Ansar Sheikh’s association with suspects in other states, and other details of the purported conspiracy that led to the clashes.

A day after the Delhi Police asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into the financial aspects of last week’s violent clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in north-west Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, the central agency has booked the prime accused Ansar Sheikh and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Security personnel keep vigil after clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday, at Jahangirpuri in New Delhi. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan)(PTI)

The ED will scan their bank accounts to ascertain if any funds received from within India and abroad were “used to fuel communal tensions”. It will also investigate Sheikh’s association with suspects in other states, and other details of the purported conspiracy that led to the clashes.

It is suspected that Sheikh may have received some money from abroad and has links with some suspects in Bangladesh, Assam, as well as Haldia in West Bengal.

Preliminary investigations by Delhi Police have revealed that he owns a mansion in Haldia, according to an officer familiar with the case.

A scrap dealer, Sheikh lives in Jahangirpuri with his family.

Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Friday wrote to the anti-money laundering probe agency, which has a wider reach and all-India jurisdiction. It has powers to attach the properties of an accused.

The Delhi Police’s crime branch has been tracking Sheikh’s movements in the days leading to the skirmishes on April 16.

It is also examining his phone call records.

Sheikh has been charged under the stringent National Security Act along with four others — Salim Chikna, Yunus Imam Sheikh, alias Sonu Chikna, Dilshad and Ahir.