The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan in connection with a money laundering case.
This came hours after the Aam Aadmi Party leader, who represents the Okhla Assembly constituency in New Delhi, said in a social media post that officials from the central agency had arrived at his home to arrest him.
The case against Khan is based on two first information reports, according to The Indian Express. One of the FIRs against him is in connection with the alleged irregularities in appointments and misappropriation of funds in the Delhi Waqf Board during Khan’s chairmanship between 2018 and 2022. The second FIR is related to an alleged disproportionate assets case.
In a video on X ahead of his arrest on Monday, Khan said that his mother-in-law, who was with him at his home, was a cancer patient and was operated on four days ago.
“I had informed the ED [Enforcement Directorate] about this,” he said. “They have been harassing me for two years and slapping false cases. They are harassing our party [Aam Aadmi Party]. Their objective is to break our party.”
In a second video posted by Khan, an elderly woman was lying on the bed. The Aam Aadmi Party MLA also asked a man why the Enforcement Directorate officials were at his house when he had requested four weeks to appear before it.
“My mother-in-law has had surgery,” he said. The man then asked why Khan thought they were at his house to arrest him. In response, Khan said: “Why else are you here?”
A woman, who appeared to be Khan’s wife, then asked the man what the Enforcement Directorate was looking for in a “three-room house”. She added: “I will take you to court if anything happens to my mother.”
Following his arrest, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to prevent MLAs from his party from contesting the elections through “deceit”. Elections for the Delhi Assembly will be held early next year.
Bhardwaj said that the Enforcement Directorate arrested Khan under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, noting that it takes months to get bail under it.
In a post on X, Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia said that this was the “only work” left for the Enforcement Directorate. “Suppress every voice raised against BJP. Break it. Arrest and put in jail those who do not break or get suppressed.”
Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh claimed that “this bullying” would cost the BJP. “You will lose badly in Delhi,” he said in a post on X. “Amanatullah Khan has been forcibly arrested without any evidence.”
Delhi Waqf Board case
On September 16, 2022, the Anti-Corruption Branch, which reports to Delhi’s lieutenant governor, arrested Khan hours after the police conducted raids at multiple locations related to the MLA.
Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Shrivastava had claimed that officials found money trails in Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
Khan was eventually granted bail on September 28, 2022.
In October, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at three premises linked to Khan in the national capital and alleged that he had received Rs 4 crore in cash for appointments to the Delhi Waqf Board and invested the “proceeds of crime” for purchasing immovable assets in the name of his associates.
In January, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet in the case. However, Khan was not named as an accused person.
On April 15, the Supreme Court dismissed Khan’s anticipatory bail petition in the case after the Enforcement Directorate had on April 11 moved a Delhi court seeking an arrest warrant against the legislator under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Khan had moved the top court after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him anticipatory bail in the case on March 11.
The Supreme Court directed Khan to heed the summons from the central agency and cooperate in the investigation. Subsequently, Khan was questioned by the central law enforcement agency for over 12 hours on April 18.
However, the Supreme Court also said that the non-bailable warrant sought by the Enforcement Directorate against Khan would not be granted. It said the Enforcement Directorate should not arrest Khan unless there is sufficient material against him.
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