Delhi riots: ED raids premises of EX-AAP councillor Tahir Hussain
The agency had initiated a money laundering case based on Delhi Police FIRS in the riots
NEW DELHI: The ED on Tuesday conducted raids at multiple locations in Delhi at the premises of suspended Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain in connection with a money laundering case it is probing with regards to the alleged funding of the NorthEast Delhi riots in February, officials here said, adding that at least six premises in Delhi, Noida and few other locations in the national capital region are being searched.
The raids are aimed at collecting additional evidence in the case, they said.
The ED, in March, had booked Hussain, Popular Front of India (PFI) and some others on charges of money laundering and alleged funding of the riots in Delhi. Interestingly, the ED is also probing another money laundering case against PFI for allegedly funding anticaa stirs in Uttar Pradesh. Offices of Hussain located in North-east Delhi are also being searched by the central investigative agency as it is probing the allegation that Hussain and people linked to him purportedly laundered about Rs 1.10 crore, by using purported shell companies, to organise anti-caa protests and the riots.
The Delhi Police last week had filed two charge sheets against Hussain in a case related to communal violence during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in North-east Delhi in February and another in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma. The corporator had said he was falsely implicated in the case and had denied wrongdoing.
The ED is understood to have gone through these police charge sheets before launching the raids. Hussain has also been booked under the stringent anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in a case related to alleged conspiracy in the riots. Significantly, the ED is known to have levelled allegations against PFI and AAP leaders for “organising” the Shaheen Bagh protests based on unsubstantiated information that at most show a correlation, based on undated and unsigned documents released by the agency early this year.