Pune: City-based businessman and stud farmer Hasan Ali Khan, who passed away at the age of 71 in Hyderabad on Thursday night, was owner of some pedigreed horses and traded in thoroughbreds in partnership.
He came into the media limelight in 2006 when the Income Tax (I-T) Department and Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided his ground-floor residence at Valentina Society in Koregaon Park. A large media contingent remained positioned outside his house for over a month before the housing society members raised objection to their presence. He had a pacemaker and was on dialysis following kidney failure, according to people familiar with the case.
Khan was facing a money laundering case pending since 2008.
The I-T and ED jointly raided his house in Pune early January 2006 after they allegedly tracked foreign money transactions running into thousands of crores of rupees. The investigators tracked transactions worth ₹5,000 crore in a multinational bank located on MG Road which belonged to a local account of Khan.
In the same month, Khan was admitted to Jehangir Nursing Home for three weeks and was closely tailed by the central agencies. His major links were traced to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara at that time. During the Pune raids, the agencies could recover some horses, a flat and a meagre ₹70 lakh cash. However, during simultaneous raids in Mumbai and Gujarat, the ED seized incriminatory evidence which yielded vital information about his dubious deals.
{{/usCountry}}In the same month, Khan was admitted to Jehangir Nursing Home for three weeks and was closely tailed by the central agencies. His major links were traced to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara at that time. During the Pune raids, the agencies could recover some horses, a flat and a meagre ₹70 lakh cash. However, during simultaneous raids in Mumbai and Gujarat, the ED seized incriminatory evidence which yielded vital information about his dubious deals.
{{/usCountry}}A Pune-based social worker who knew Khan said, “He was on bail, but critically ill and passed away at his ancestral residence in Hyderabad. He used to stay in Koregaon Park and offer prayers at the Koregaon Park masjid. He used to come for Friday and Eid prayers and donated to charities.”
Another acquaintance of Khan at Turf Club, where he was a regular, said, “He liked to smoke cigars and used to spend long hours at the club. He had some horses and was passionate about horse racing. His death marks the end of all his memories associated with Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC).”
Khan is accused of transferring huge chunk of black money out of India to various dummy accounts. The search by central agencies revealed that he had obtained Permanent Account Number (PAN) only in 2005 and had failed to pay tax for the years from 2001 to 2007.
In 2008, after the investigation, the I-T department alleged his total income for seven years between 2001-02 and 2007-08 was ₹ 1.10 lakh crore. The agency said hence his tax liability on this income was appraised at ₹34,000 crore. Khan filed all returns in May 2007. The department had, however, filed seven complaints for each of the years before the magistrate court in 2009.
The ED filed chargesheet against him in May 2011.
According to ED, Khan had at least three accounts in UBS, Zurich, two in his own name and one in the name of his wife Rheema. It is alleged that Khan had an initial deposit of $150,000 in an account opened in UBS, Singapore, which was later transferred to UBS, Zurich.
Later, $2,400,000 was purportedly deposited in this account, the ED investigation revealed. It was also found that Khan had transferred $7 lakh from his account with Sarasin Bank, Switzerland, to SK Financial Services, United Kingdom, through Citibank, New York.
However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in February 2016 passed an order setting aside the assessment and asked the assessing officer for fresh adjudication. Now, Ali’s tax liability is a mere ₹3-4 crore for an income of ₹10 crore.
‘Central agencies vested with draconian powers’
Advocate Prashant Patil, who represented Hasan Ali Khan, said that central agencies like Enforcement Directorate are vested with enormous draconian powers. The agencies are very well protected by more stringent Laws of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) wherein securing bail is all the more difficult. “But, what if, the agencies have arrested an innocent man? Who is accountable for that?,” he said
“The case of Hasan Ali Khan is an example of aristocracy and how agencies can ruin some innocent man’s life. Mr Khan was arrested and was behind the bars for 4 years and 8 months. His health deteriorated every day behind the bars. We moved a criminal writ petition before the Bombay High Court, requesting to direct the Special Court to conduct the matter on day-to-day basis. Special PMLA court also framed charges last year and was trying to expedite the matter. But, as expected. the ED never got any witness or evidence before the court. If this is a case of money laundering, then where is the money? Have all the agencies who have investigated the said case from 2007 till date found any evidence against Mr Hassan Ali Khan?” he said.
He said that as Khan’s lawyer, he will request the court to not to drop the criminal proceedings even after his death as the dead man’s soul deserves justice. On Khan’s residential property attached by ED, the lawyer said that his client’s wife and son have no place to stay after the death of family’s only earning member.
“The only regret and pain in the matter is, we kept requesting the ED to have the grace to conduct the trial by bringing some evidence, but they never bothered. We have no choice but to bow down and succumb to the aristocratic arrogance of agencies,” Patil said.