Amanatullah dealt in 'tainted' transactions; avoided probe: ED

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was dealing with "ill-gotten" money and indulged in "tainted" cash transactions to purchase an immovable property in Delhi, the Enforcement Directorate alleged on Tuesday.

The federal agency arrested the 50-year-old legislator from Okhla on Monday after conducting a search at his house. He was produced before a local court the same day that sent him to four-day ED custody.

The agency also charged him with "non-cooperation" and "avoiding investigation" in the case claiming he only appeared once out of the 14 summonses sent to him to depose and get his statement recorded by the investigating officer.

The money-laundering case against the AAP MLA stems from two FIRs, one by the Delhi ACB and the other filed by the CBI to probe alleged irregularities committed during his tenure as the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board from 2016-2021.

He was been charged by the ED and the CBI with committing illegalities in the appointment of Group C and D employees in the Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) causing a wrongful loss to the government apart from a claimed "misuse and abuse" of his official position as the Waqf Board Chairman in allotment of the tenancy of properties of the DWB without following proper procedure.

His party has stoutly defended Khan, claiming he had been framed in a "false" case like its other leaders for raising their voice against the BJP.

Probe found, the ED said in a statement, that under the directions of Khan, his alleged aides Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir managed his "ill-gotten" money during his tenure as chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board and used these funds to make cash payments via a person Kausar Imam Siddiqui for the purchase of property at 275-276, TTI Tikona Park in Okhla area of Delhi that belongs to Jawed Imam Siddiqui.

"Huge cash deposits in the bank accounts of Jawed Imam Siddiqui and his wife (were made) and the handwritten noting by Kausar Imam Siddiqui in the seized diary pertains to the same tainted cash transactions made on behalf of Amanatullah Khan for the purchase of the said property at Tikona Park," the ED claimed.

It said Khan was issued 14 summonses but he appeared in response to only one summons (in April), that too on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The agency said it has filed two complaints before a local court for non-compliance of the summonses.