New Delhi, Sep 2: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was arrested here by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday as part of a money laundering investigation related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Wakf Board and a disproportionate assets case.
The Aam Aadmi Party defended Khan, claiming that he had been framed in a “false” case like its other leaders for raising their voice against the BJP, while the BJP and Congress alleged that the arrest showed that AAP had a long list of corrupt leaders.
The 50-year-old MLA from the Okhla assembly seat was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED which descended for a search at his residence just after 6 am.
The agency produced Khan before Special Judge Rakesh Syal and sought his custody for 10 days, stating he was required to be confronted with other accused and evidence in the case.
The money laundering probe against Khan stems from two FIRs, one registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Wakf Board-related “irregularities” and another by the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch related to a case of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.
The ED told the court that some questions were put to Khan during the search but he remained “evasive” and hence was arrested. The agency said that Khan is the main accused. “Proceeds of crime have been used and laundered to buy property. Cash was also used,” it alleged.
“There was an attempt to misguide the agency,” the ED told the court and accused Khan of non-cooperation, saying that 14 summonses were issued to him and he appeared only once, that too after the Supreme Court's direction.
Khan was taken away from his home in an official vehicle while a large crowd gathered outside and shouted slogans. A security team of the CRPF and Delhi Police was present inside and outside Khan's house during the action.
A purported video showed Khan sitting on a bed near his mother-in-law who he said had recently undergone surgery. An unconfirmed video showed Khan telling an ED officer standing outside his locked gate that he “knows they want to arrest” him.
Khan in a statement said that his mother-in-law is a cancer patient, who underwent surgery four days ago and he had sought four weeks' time from the ED for her treatment.
“Today, these people have come to arrest me. Will the ED deputy director take responsibility in front of the SHO that if they arrest me, it will not have a bad effect on my mother-in-law's health and she will not die?” the MLA said in a video message posted on X before his arrest.
Khan claimed he has “fully cooperated” with the ED.
“Earlier in this case, the ACB and the CBI have also done their investigation and given me a clean chit. The ED had searched my house in this case on 10 October 2023,” he said.
“Revolutionaries will not bow down to the tyranny of a dictator. The BJP's ED took Aam Aadmi Party MLA @KhanAmanatullah in custody in a false case. The more the BJP people tries to suppress us, the more vocal our voice will be,” AAP said in a post on X in Hindi.
