ED arrests Delhi AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Okhla, Amanatullah Khan, in connection with its money laundering probe related to irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) and for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, people familiar with the matter said.

Khan is the fifth AAP lawmaker after Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, and Satyendar Jain, to be arrested by either ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The federal agency took Khan’s custody after raiding his house in Okhla and questioning him for a few hours. Later in the day, the Rouse Avenue court remanded Khan to four days ED custody. He will now be produced before the court on September 6.

“We have arrested Amanatullah Khan in a money laundering case, which stems from two first information reports (FIRs) – one by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board and another by Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) related to a case of allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his income,” said an ED officer who didn’t want to be named.

Early on Monday morning, Khan posted on his X account that an ED team was at his residence to arrest him. “It is seven in the morning, and ED has come to arrest me in the name of a search warrant. My mother-in-law has cancer, and she is currently at my home. I have written to them, and I have also replied to each of their notices. These people have been harassing me continuously for the last two years. Their only aim is to break our party. We are not going to bow down, and we are not going to break,” Khan said in a video message.

AAP criticised the central government saying it was using ED to suppress every voice raised against it.

Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, released on bail after 17 months in jail in a case related to Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy, said ED is suppressing every voice raised against the Bharatiya Janata Party. “Those who could not be suppressed, broken, are put behind bars.”

AAP leader Sanjay Singh, also out on bail in the excise policy case, said there is no evidence against Khan.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continues to remain in jail in the same case.

The federal agency, in April, moved court seeking an arrest warrant against Okhla MLA Khan. It cited non-appearance before the agency, accusing Khan of not joining the probe in the case related to the money laundering case.

The federal agency filed a charge sheet in the case against Khan’s alleged associates – Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir, Jawed Imam Siddiqui and Kausar Imam Siddiqui – in January this year. It alleged that the legislator acquired huge proceeds of crime in cash through illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested these to purchase immovable assets in the names of his associates. The agency has also alleged that Khan benefited from leasing out Waqf Board properties when he was the board’s chairman between 2018 and 2022.

According to ED officials who didn’t want to be named, cash payments worth over ₹8 crore allegedly made by Khan to acquire a 1,200 square yards property in Jamia Nagar with the help of his associates is a key evidence against him.

ED’s charge sheet, a copy of which has been seen by HT, says: “Amanatullah Khan has acquired huge cash amounts being proceeds of crime out of criminal activities relating to his corrupt and illegal activities relating to illegal recruitment of persons in Delhi Waqf Board, leasing out properties of DWB in unfair and illegal manner, misappropriation of DWB funds including others while being the public servant, Chairman of DWB and MLA from Okhla during the period 2015 onwards.”

The agency further said that to launder the money, Khan hatched a criminal conspiracy and “invested his ill-gotten money... into immovable properties through his associates”.

“He purchased immovable properties in the name of his benamidar (proxies)... by concealing and suppressing their actual value ... and actively concealed amounts that were paid in cash to seller which are nothing but proceeds of crime acquired by Amanatullah Khan out of his corrupt and illegal activities,” it stated.

As for the 1200 sq yds property, it is located at Tikona Park, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi and is owned by Jawed Imam Siddiqui’s wife Ayesha Quamar, ED has found. It was to be transferred to Khan’s aides – Haider and Nasir – in 2021 through an agreement to sell for consideration amount of ₹36 crore.

The federal agency found a diary with Siddiqui, which, it claims, reveals cash transactions running into crores of rupees exchanged between him, Khan, Haider and Nasir.

The ED charge sheet added that out of total amount involved , ₹36 crore, ₹9 crore were given through banking channel while ₹27 crore was transacted through cash.

It further says that out of ₹36 crore, ₹8 crore was directly given by Amanatullah Khan in cash.

ED said that consideration value for the property was shown as ₹13.40 crore in the agreement, which was created at a later stage after an investigation in the matter was taken up. This was done with the sole intention to mislead the investigation, ED added.