HC seeks ED response in plea by AAP MLA challenging his arrest

New Delhi
The Delhi high court on Thursday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Amanatullah Khan, who challenged his arrest by the federal agency in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB), and for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets.
A bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued notice and fixed October 18 as the next date of hearing.
“Issue notice. Advanced notice accepted by the ED. Let a detailed status report be filed by the ED,” the court said in the order.
During the hearing on Thursday, special counsel Zoheb Hossain, representing ED, raised preliminary objections regarding the maintainability of the petition. Hossain said that Khan in his petition failed to disclose about Delhi high court’s March 11 order rejecting his anticipatory bail in the same case, and the grounds which have been agitated in the plea were considered in the high court’s March 11 order.
Opposing the objections, Khan represented by senior advocate Vikram Chaudari submitted that there was full disclosure in the petition disclosed. The senior counsel also contended that his client’s arrest by ED was “patently illegal” as he was taken into custody in the garb of search.
ED arrested Khan on September 2 in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in DWB, and for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. The Okhla MLA was later remanded to the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for four days and on September 9, a city court had remanded him to judicial custody till September 23.
Khan, in his plea filed through advocates Rajat Bhardwaj and Kaustubh Khanna, asserted that ED arrested him on September 2 without any material to substantiate his role in the alleged irregularities, and said that the reasoning provided by the federal agency to take him into custody is frivolous and baseless.
The AAP MLA also stated that ED failed to identify the “money trail” prior to his arrest. It said that the agency, after April 18, had no new material based on which it formed an opinion for “necessity to arrest”.
“The exact quantum of alleged proceeds of crime are neither identified nor available, as during the investigation in the Predicate offence, it has been revealed that there is no pecuniary advantage/bribe which has been paid to the Petitioner,” the plea read.
Khan added that the orders remanding him to further custody are “nonspeaking orders” and have been passed without application of mind. The Okhla legislator also sought for quashing and setting aside the arrest memo and arrest order dated September 2, the entire proceedings relating thereto and read down section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which empowers ED to summon a person and record his statement.
The ED probe against Khan stems from a case registered by CBI in 2016, accusing the Okhla MLA of illegally appointing various people to DWB against non-sanctioned and non-existent vacancies, which caused financial loss to the Delhi government and illegal gains to himself. He is also alleged to have illegally leased out properties of the waqf board.