Money laundering case: Delhi HC notice to Amanatullah Khan on ED plea

Justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the AAP MLA from Okhla and listed the matter for further hearing on March 21

The Delhi high court on Thursday issued notice in Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea challenging city court’s order ordering release of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Amanatullah Khan on bail, after refusing to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the probe agency in the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) money laundering case.

Khan was arrested on September 2, after the ED carried out raids at his Okhla residence and was granted bail on Nov 14, 2024. (ANI file photo)

A bench of justice Vikas Mahajan asked Khan to file his response before March 21, the next date of hearing.

The court also stayed till March 21, the trial court proceedings against co accused.

The court passed the order, after probe agency’s counsel Zoheb Hossain urged the court to the defer the proceedings contending that the trial court, despite refusing to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet against the main accused— AAP legislator Khan, was proceeding against other co- accused.

“Considering the submissions made by special counsel, the learned special judge is directed to defer the proceedings to a day after the next date of hearing before this court i.e. March 21,” the court said in its order.

The ED had appealed against city court’s November 14 order passed last year, in which the court while refusing to take cognisance of the agency’s supplementary chargesheet had underlined that though the agency had sufficient grounds to proceed against Khan, it failed to place on record the sanction to prosecute him. It said that keeping Khan in custody in the absence of sanction would be tantamount to illegal custody and there was no legal ground to justify Khan’s “further detention”.

In its petition before the high court, the probe agency had stated that Khan was not entitled to the protection stipulated under section 197 CrPC, since the offence was not committed in discharge of official duties. Section 197(1) of CrPC mandates that no prosecution against a public servant can proceed without obtaining prior sanction from the competent authority. The provision corresponds to Section 218 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which replaced CrPC with effect from July 1.

In its charge sheet, ED had alleged Khan had invested proceeds of crime in two properties at Okhla and Zakir Nagar, with the help of his associates and wife.

The probe agency alleged that his wife directly, knowingly and actively assisted Khan in the possession, concealment, use of proceeds of crime that were generated in the form of income disproportionate to the known source of income and directly assisted Khan in projecting and claiming the proceeds of crime utilized in purchasing the Zakir Nagar flat, in her name, as untainted property.

Khan was arrested on September 2, after the ED carried out raids at his Okhla residence and was granted bail by the city court on November 14, 2024.

EDs probe against Khan stemmed from a case registered by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2016, accusing him of illegally appointing various people to the DWB against non-sanctioned and non-existent vacancies, which 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.