Court grants bail in Delhi Waqf Board case
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan on Saturday in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s recent complaint filed against him for alleged non-attendance of summons in the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case. Amanatullah Khan appeared before the court following the summons issued to him by the court. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Divya Malhotra, noted his presence and granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and one surety of like amount.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently moved a complaint against him for failing to appear before the agency and not joining the probe in the case related to alleged irregularities in appointments in the Delhi Waqf Board and leasing of its properties.
ED’S complaint was filed under section 174 of the IPC, 1860, read with section 63 (4) of PMLA, 2002 for nonattendance in compliance with Section 50, PMLA, 2002. Special public prosecutor (SPP) Simon Benjamin appeared for the Enforcement Directorate in the matter.the federal probe agency alleged that Amanatullah Khan had elevated his role from a witness to an accused by filing an anticipatory bail plea and evading the investigation. ED’S lawyer further stated that they were never able to conclude the probe against him because he was not presenting himself before the agency.
“All the other people are the aides of this particular person. His role is much larger than that of the other accused persons who have already been arrested and charge-sheeted,” Advocate Simon Benjamin added.
The Rouse Avenue court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of AAP MLA Amanat Ullah Khan on March 1. The case is related to the purchase of a property worth Rs 36 crore in the Okhla area allegedly at the behest of Amanat Ullah Khan, who is also the sitting MLA from that area. A charge sheet has already been filed against four accused persons and one firm. It has been alleged that Rs 100 crore Waqf Properties were illegally given on lease. It is also alleged that 32 contractual employees were appointed in the Delhi Waqf Board during the chairmanship of Amanat Ullah Khan, who flouted the rules.