ED attaches ₹1.4 crore assets of AAP minister Kailash Gahlot’s brother

The ED said Harish Gahlot had transferred ₹1 crore to Dubai last September as an advance payment to buy two flats. This money was sent by hawala, the informal network to transfer money abroad through Harish Gahlot’s younger son Nitesh, the agency alleged.

Six months after tax officials raided locations linked to Aam Aadmi Party minister Kailash Gahlot and set up a huge political row in the national capital, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday attached ₹1.46 crore assets of the minister’s brother on money laundering charges.

Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday attached ₹1.46 crore assets of the Aam Aadmi Party minister Kailash Gahlot’s brother on money laundering charges.(Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The enforcement directorate, the central agency mandated to probe financial crimes, said the order to attach a flat in Delhi and a plot of land in Haryana was issued in lieu of the assets held by the minister’s brother Harish Gahlot in the UAE.

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The ED said Harish Gahlot had transferred ₹1 crore to Dubai last September as an advance payment to buy two flats. This money was sent by hawala, the informal network to transfer money abroad through Harish Gahlot’s younger son Nitesh, the agency alleged.

Out of these funds, the agency said in a statement, Nitesh Gahlot paid the Dubai-based developers to book two flats. Nitesh, his father Harish Gahlot, mother and his elder brother were to be listed as co-owners, the agency said. The ED alleged that Harish Gahlot had also sent ₹50 lakh to his son on 26 September 2018. This money was sent through banking channels for education but was used for the two flats.

Delhi law minister Kailash Gahlot hasn’t reacted to the ED move yet.

But when tax officials raided the family last year, the Aam Aadmi Party had alleged that this was an attempt to arm-twist the party the ruling party’s legislators and ministers in national capital Delhi. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had then demanded that the Centre apologise to the people for “constantly troubling” the Delhi government.

Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP had won the 2015 state elections with an unprecedented 67 out of 70 seats.

Delhi is due to vote in the sixth phase of polling on 12 May.